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On February 17-19, 2021, the largest 32nd International Organic Trade Fair Biofach eSpecial 2021 took place online, in which 1,443 exhibitors from 82 countries presented their products, and participants had the opportunity to join discussions in more than 100 forums.

On the first day of the trade fair, 17 February 2021, the official opening of the Ukrainian National Pavilion Organic Ukraine Business Hub took place, in which the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko, Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Serhii Hlushchenko (interview on the OrganicInfo), Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka, Head of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection Vladislava Magaletska, Assistant Director of Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine Viktor Shutkevych, Head of export promotion in the USAID Competitive Economy Program (CEP) Dusan Kulka, President of the

Organic Ukraine Non-Governmental Organisation of Producers of Organic Certified Products Olena Korogod (Berezovska) took part.

Viktor Shutkevych, Assistant Director of Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine in his welcome speech noted that the Swiss Embassy has supported the development of the organic sector in Ukraine since 2002, with a special focus on the development of higher value added trade in the organic sector of Ukraine.

The Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine relies on the best organic producers. We have been supporting the development of the organic market in Ukraine since 2002. I first visited the International Organic Trade Fair BIOFACH in 2008 and since then I remain a supporter of the organic movement in Ukraine. I have always said that the BIOFACH fair is a business card for Ukraine. It is very important for Ukraine to join the world showcase of organic products and present itself. During the BIOFACH there are many meetings, exchanges of experience, and a lot of work is done to conclude contracts. This once again testifies to the demand for Ukrainian organic products and confirms their high quality. Unfortunately, the export market is developing faster in Ukraine, but, first of all, organic products should be promoted on the domestic market. Even though Ukraine took 1st place in Europe and 2nd place in the world in terms of imports of organic products to the EU in 2019, we stress the importance of creating added value of Ukrainian organic products. The Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine comprehensively supports the agricultural sector of Ukraine by launching a number of projects. Last week, together with Roman Leshchenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine we launched a new phase of the Ukraine Crop Receipt Project, which will give farmers access to finance.

The Ukrainian National Pavilion Organic Ukraine Business Hub was organized by the Organic Ukraine  NGO with the support of the USAID CEP project. Partners in the Ukrainian National Pavilion preparation are the Swiss-Ukrainian Program “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” and the Export Promotion Office of Ukraine State Institution. Organic berry enterprises also took part in the Biofach eSpecial 2021 with the technical assistance of the International Trade Centre (ITC) and coordination of the Ukrainian Berries Association. Within the framework of the USAID AGRO project, the Ukrainian Berries Association organized a series of training for organic exporters to prepare for participation in the Biofach eSpecial 2021 fair.

Within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian Program “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” financed by Switzerland and implemented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) in partnership with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland), an online tour for the Ukrainian policymakers was organized (Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, Export Promotion Office of Ukraine State Institution, Scientific and Methodological Centre for Higher and Pre-Higher Education State Institution), participants of Organic Initiative was oganised in order to get acquainted with the world trends in the organic sector development. Participants of the online tour had an opportunity to take part in online events held within the trade fair, get acquainted with the organic value chains for further development of the organic sector in Ukraine, virtually visit stands of different countries and companies.

At the Biofach eSpecial 2021 Congress the annual book   published by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) together with the IFOAM – Organics International with the financial support of SECO, ITC, COOP, and Biofach was presented. It contains data from many countries as of 31 December 2020.

Some infographics and tables from this book were translated into Ukrainian within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian Program “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” which are available on OrganicInfo.ua in the section “Infographics”.

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