The goals of this strategy, which include striving for food safety, market success, ecological adequacy of agricultural products and the development of rural areas, are "important priorities, which define the framework within which the economic policy of our country should be led," Tuerk said.

He also praised Agriculture, Forestry and Food Minister Dejan Zidan for his work, especially for uniting the grain-wheat sector.

Connecting Slovenian production and the setting up of food production chains is an attempt to develop a comprehensive, effective agricultural system, which should be the guideline for the future as well, the president stressed.

Zidan meanwhile highlighted that recent food safety alerts had shown that food production in Slovenia was safe and compliant with the law.

"Today we know that food-sufficiency is our duty, because the world around us is not as stable as it was a year ago, which is why we are increasing the production of grain and garden vegetables," he said.

The guest country of this year's fair, running until 25 August, is Poland, which currently holds the EU presidency, while special attention is also given to Brazil, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Moldova, the Vojvodina region and Kosovo.

Marek Sewicki, the Polish agriculture minister, said at the opening that the priorities of the EU's agricultural reform policy were food safety, environment protection and promotion of renewables. The reform must not bring changes only to the European budget, but must focus on the development of agriculture, he pointed out.

President Tuerk echoed this at a press conference following the opening of AGRA, saying that the block's new financial perspective should also be development-oriented, so that it would encourage profitable production and development activities.

"Today we live in a time, when EU members should maintain public financial discipline and a healthy economic policy at the national level, while the EU should on the other hand contribute more to growth with its instruments, its budget, common agricultural policy and other mechanisms," Tuerk stated.

"This is how duties should be distributed, but we have not reached this kind of distribution of duties yet," he added.

The AGRA fair, running under the slogan "Straight to Your Table", promotes local food production, greater self-sufficiency with a focus on tourism farms, organic food and organic farming, as well as the "buying Slovenian" initiatives.

It brings technical exhibitions, expert meetings with over 50 lectures, food evaluations and around 100 accompanying events.

The signing of a special code of conduct for the participants of the food supply chain is also planned, which is expected to improve relations between food producers, manufacturers and retailers.