The Secretary General of Agriculture and Food, in charge of inaugurating the XXXII Salón Gourmets
The Secretary General of Agriculture and Food, Carlos Cabanas, today opened the Food and Beverage Quality Fair, Hall of Gourmets 2018, held at the IFEMA fairgrounds in Madrid, where he highlighted the possibilities offered by this forum to know First hand, the concerns and interests of the operators that attend it, and which are of great interest for the design and development of policies that respond to sectoral problems.
He also highlighted the role of this important Fair as a platform to explain and share the initiatives that the Ministry carries out in the service of agriculture, food and gastronomy of the country.
Cabanas has valued the position achieved by the Spanish agri-food sector in world trade, occupying the first place in the production of olive oil, table olives, and a very prominent place in other high-value productions such as fruits and vegetables, meats, products made from pigs, fishery products or wines, as well as the recognition of quality figures in European markets.
Some achievements, he said, that allow us to achieve, month after month, new records in exports of food products, achieving, last year, that our exports have exceeded the figure of 50,000 million euros, with a trade balance exceeding the 12,000 million.
Synergies with other sectors of economic activity
The general secretary, has also stressed the need to place food as a cultural, economic and social development engine, channeling for it the synergies that are produced by the interaction between food and other relevant economic sectors such as gastronomy, tourism, culture, sports or the environment.
In this sense, it has highlighted the Food Strategy of Spain, an initiative that drives the Department with the objective of supporting the promotion of our food, both abroad and in the national market, taking advantage of the positive relationship that exists between food and other sectors of economic activity.
In this line of support to the sector, Cabanas explained that the Ministry has reinforced its participation in the Hall. As in previous editions, the Wine Tunnel is maintained “which has been a benchmark for years, and is conceived as an initiative in support of the wine sector of our country, with the participation of the Regulatory Councils, as well as different companies and associations
On the other hand, and as a novelty this year, Cabanas has highlighted the installation of an “Oil Tunnel” to know the varietal richness of Spanish production, as a differentiated element of quality, as well as the wide range of organoleptic profiles that characterize them. and even existing initiatives in the field of oil tourism.
Along with these stands, the general secretary has indicated that a specific space has also been located in the Hall for the promotion of fish consumption, through which the wide variety of fish that the fleet makes available to consumers will be made known. , and has announced the celebration of the First Contest of cooking recipes 100% Native Breed, with which it is wanted to promote and value these breeds.
Cabanas has finished his speech making special mention to Francisco López Canís, who, in recognition of his merits, has been awarded this year the Extraordinary Food of Spain Award for his ongoing work to disseminate the quality of Spanish food, and its contribution to the improvement of the marketing of delicatessen foods, so necessary for the improvement of the quality excellence and competitiveness of our agri-food sector.
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