Lithuania Consolidates Agricultural Advisory Bodies, Dissolving Food Council

Lithuania's Ministry of Agriculture is streamlining its advisory bodies by dissolving the existing Food Council and the Agricultural Science Council. These functions will be integrated into a new, unified Ministry College, a move aimed at optimizing operations and enhancing expert collaboration. The ministry announced the change, stating that the consolidation seeks to eliminate overlapping tasks and centralize expertise to provide more effective, coordinated recommendations to the Minister of Agriculture.

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By joining forces into one Ministry College, the aim is to avoid duplication of work and issues, to gather the best experts, and to ensure unified and coordinated proposals are submitted to the Minister of Agriculture.

The inaugural meeting of the new Ministry College is scheduled for September or October. Its composition will include the minister's political team alongside representatives from key social partners, such as farmers, scientists, businesses, and non-governmental organizations. The primary objective of the college is to ensure a consistent and strategic discussion of issues within the minister's purview.

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The goal of the College's activity is to ensure consistent consideration of strategic issues in the areas of management entrusted to the Minister of Agriculture.

According to the ministry, all necessary legal acts are currently being drafted, and stakeholders will be informed of further developments. The previous Food Council, launched in February of the previous year, focused on supply chains for milk, grains, and eggs, as well as essential goods baskets. However, the ministry acknowledged that this council did not fulfill its initial expectations of helping to find solutions for reducing food prices, despite bringing together experts and social partners.

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The Food Council was established with the expectation that it would help find solutions for reducing food prices and bring together the necessary experts and social partners, but these expectations were apparently not met.