The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry, João Ponte, participates in the conference on the future of food and agriculture that will be held in Brussels on December 18 to 19. The event brings together various politicians, academics and the civil society.
 
During the two-day international event, João Ponte will be accompanied by the Regional Director for Rural Development, Fernando Sousa, and the President of the Azores Agricultural Federation, Jorge Rita.
 
On the sidelines of the conference, the Secretary will the adviser assistant for Outermost Regions and POSEI of the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Kevin Keary.
 
The opening session of the third edition of this annual conference will be attended by the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan.
 
The first day of the conference will be dedicated to the debate on the modernisation and simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), while the second day will focus on the analysis of the latest prospective report (2013-2030) on dairy markets, meat and crops for the coming years.
 
EU agriculture is one of the world's largest food producers and guarantees food safety for over 500 million European citizens.
 
EU institutions, governments and international organisations, market experts, scholars and the civil society will take part in this conference.