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BUSINESS LINKAGE
Wine Study Program
The program was initiated at the 17th annual convention of the Serbian Unity Congress as part of the Business Linkage Program. A large delegation of representatives of various areas related to the wine industry from Serbia participated.
The objective of the program was to bringi together representatives of the Serb agro-business community with corresponding representatives in California’s renown NAPA Valley in order to facilitate business and academic cooperation by both sides toward possible future arrangements such as research, study/training exchanges, strategic alliances, etc.
The Serbian Unity Congress hosted a full day of meetings with California government representatives in Sacramento. The delegation met members of both the legislative and executive branch of the California government who are involved in policy making affecting the wine industry of California. Sacramento delegate list >>>
The delegation participated in a day-long tour of Napa Valley with meetings with industry and county government representatives and lectures on various aspects of wine industry and economy in Napa Valley. The US Department of Agriculture sponsored part of the delegation visit by engaging University of California at Davis to organize the Napa Valley meetings and tour. That day the participants met with managements of three wineries, saw an agrotourism center, Copia, and received an expert presentation on the economics and policy development for wine industry regions. Program >>>
Left to right: Pavle Basic - Vršački Vinogradi, Dusan Mojsilovic - Agromarket Vineyard, Dragan Lukac - President, Regional Chamber of Commerce of Novi Sad, Mirjana Samardzija – President of Serbian Unity Congress, Ljubisa Dimitrijević State Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Serbia, Philippe Chabot – US Dept of Agriculture, Bozidar Aleksandrović - Wine Cellar Aleksandrović, Jim Collins – Chief Consultant of Assembly Committe on Agriculture
Representatives of the delegation from Serbia, UC Davis, the US Department of Agriculture and the Serbian Unity Congress organizers wrapped up the program on day three concluding the event at the convention. A working group was formed with a plan for continued work.
 
Dragan Lukac, Ljubisa Dimitrijevic in the Napa Winery
Left to right: Robert Tse, California Trade Director, Jonnalee Henderson – Policy Analyst, Phillipe Chabot – USDA, Dusan Mojsilović -- Agromarket Vineyard, Gordan Basic - Fruškogorski Vinogradi, Pavle Basić -- Vršački Vinogradi, Mirjana Samardzija, Ljubisa Dimitrijevic – State Secretary for Serbia’s Ministry of Agriculture
Next Steps
The working group continued the project. The following spring, the US Department of Agriculture sponsored a team of experts who performed a two-week survey of the wine industry of Serbia and produced a comprehensive assessment of Serbia's wine industry. The assessment has been followed up by workshops and continues. Assessment >>>
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