The Directorate for National Reference Laboratories, DNRL hosted Mrs Jelena Tanasković, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and Mr Emanuel Giaufret, the Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union in the Republic of Serbia with their delegations.

Prof. Tanja Miščević PhD, the Minister of European Integration, attended as well. The Director of the Directorate for National Reference Laboratories, Goran Zebić, introduced the delegations of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia to the work of the laboratories from the Directorate and presented the purchased equipment from the counterpfunds of EU.

The Minister Jelena Tanasković took this opportunity to point out that there are many examples of long-term successful cooperation between the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia and the Ministry of Agriculture in the DNRL, and that with the help of the EU, "new horizons" for the development of the DNRL have been opened.

The Minister Jelena Tanasković expressed her gratitude for the help that the EU provided to Serbia in the previous period through IPA and counterpart funds, through which 74 projects related to food safety in Serbia, i.e. chapter 12, have been implemented so far, implemented in five tranches in the total amount of 8.5 million euros.

Tanasković expressed her hope that Serbia and the EU will develop good trade cooperation in the coming period with an increase in the export of products with added value, in which, as she pointed out, the laboratory that guarantees food safety will help.
The EU certainly represents the most important foreign trade partner of Serbia, on whose market 55 percent of the value of exports of agricultural and food products of Serbia ended in the previous year, Tanasković reminded.

The Ambassador Emanuel Giaufret pointed out that agriculture is the main sector of EU aid to Serbia, and that the EU has already made 175 million euros available to Serbia through the IPARD II program.

The Amasador Emanuel Giaufret emphasized that he is proud to be in DNRL, an institution that was built and equipped with the joint efforts of the EU and Serbia.

"She has already played such a key role during the covid 19 pandemic when she helped with testing procedures." Giofre said, “DNRL will be there in the event of any future foodborne outbreak or similar crisis,".

Goran Zebic announced that this equipment will bring a significant upgrade and enlargement of the laboratory's capacities in the fields of food quality and food safety, and phytosanitary safety. The equipment is very important for our work, so our Ministry would like to take this opportunity to express special gratitude to Delegation of EU to Serbia for approving the purchase of the equipment from the counterpart funds of EU.

The PacBio Sequel IIe is an instrument for the implementation of advanced sequencing technology 3th generation in the testing of food safety and genome sequencing. In addition to the analysis in the field of food safety, Sequel IIe has opened a completely new dimension of our activities in the field of research on biodiversity. ICP-MS/MS, LC-MS/MS, and GC-MS are three types of equipment that contribute to a significant upgrade and expansion of the laboratory's capacities in the areas of food quality, food safety, and phytosanitary safety. 28.11.2022

Photo gallery