,

We signed an agreement with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces.

FEMP Agreement

Our joint work continues with the other interprofessionals for the construction of the Municipal Livestock and Meat Network , a joint initiative to bring together municipalities with a significant presence of livestock farming and industries in their territory. The next step has been the signing of an important collaboration agreement with the FEMP, and the presentation of what will be the First Forum of the Network, scheduled for October . We reproduce the joint press release.

The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and the six Interprofessional Organisations of the meat sector (OIAS) have today signed a collaboration agreement to promote the Municipal Livestock and Meat NetworkThis is an initiative launched by the Interprofessional Organisations to work together with the Spanish municipalities that have a significant presence of livestock and industrial activities in their territory. 

The agreement was signed by the secretary general of the FEMP, Carlos Daniel Casares, and the representatives of the OIAS: Antonio Prieto (president of ASICI), Antonio Sánchez (president of AVIANZA), Javier Gómez (vice-president of INTERCUN), Raúl Muñiz (president of INTEROVIC), Alberto Herranz (director of INTERPORC) and Eliseu Isla (president of PROVACUNO). The event was held at the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology(INIA), whose director, Esther Esteban, welcomed the participants. 

Speaking on behalf of the six Interprofesionales, Eliseu Isla said that "having the support of the FEMP for the development of this Network is a very important step for this initiative. We are sure that together we will be able to join forces to make the rural world and its important role in Spanish territorial cohesion more visible, as well as to promote innovation and progress in the livestock-meat sector"

For his part, Carlos Daniel Casares highlighted "the contribution of the livestock-meat sector to the economy of thousands of municipalities in our country. Depopulation is one of the great challenges we face as a country and livestock and meat industries are a tool for generating opportunities in rural areas"

The Municipal Livestock and Meat Network aims to give visibility to the role of municipalities in the functioning of the sector, as well as to encourage public-private collaboration at municipal level, developing actions or strategies to promote the sector, which has demonstrated its resilience and strategic strength during the Covid-19 crisis. 

The Network will constitute a space for collaboration to face common challenges and share experiences that stimulate activity in the rural world and in municipalities throughout the territory, and was created with the aim of recognising the important support of the municipalities in the development of the chain's activity. In fact, the joint work carried out by the companies and the municipalities has allowed the livestock-meat chain to become one of the most important economic engines in the country and to act as the major backbone of rural Spain. 

The municipalities play a fundamental role in the development of this livestock-meat activity. With their support, according to the latest figures, the chain's activity has contributed a total of 42,000 million euros to the national GDP. The Livestock and Meat Municipal Network was created precisely for the purpose of recognising this important synergy, and the essential work and support of the municipalities of our country. 

Working together for livestock, meat and the development of rural Spain 

In this direction, the six interprofessional organisations that drive the Network have been working together for more than a year on the design of objectives and plans aimed at the social and economic recovery of our country, including the Next Generation Livestock and Meat project that could form part of the next Agri-Food PERTE, with its own investments of more than 5,000 million euros distributed in matters of sustainability, digitalisation and innovation. 

Its application together with the aid from the European fund will bring about an unprecedented transformation of the sector in all the municipalities that are home to this economic activity, creating employment in the rural world and, in particular, in areas at serious risk of depopulation. Likewise, work will also be carried out within the framework of the Network towards the development of the National Demographic Challenge Strategy, in order to adapt the sector's action to the needs of the municipalities. 

First Network Forum to be held in October 

Following the signing of this agreement, the first Forum of the Network is scheduled to be held in October of this year, with the official presentation of the municipalities participating in it. Town councils such as Totana (Murcia) and Los Tojos (Cantabria) have already formalised their adhesion to the Network, and others such as Ourense, Marchena (Seville) and Zafra (Badajoz) are in the process of doing so, as is Porriño (Pontevedra), which plans to approve its incorporation at its next plenary session at the end of this month. 

Participation in the Network will allow municipalities to be part of a visible platform vis-à-vis the authorities and to have a voice through it, benefiting from the interrelation with their counterparts in other localities to share opportunities in the rural world and the sector. 

They will also be able to actively participate in the political conversation, defending the interests of a sector that contributes to the economy, society and demography of their territory, sharing experiences that stimulate the rural world and achieving institutional, business and public opinion visibility.

In short, the Municipal Livestock and Meat Network will be a space for everyone, towns and cities, with which to continue building a rural world with quality of life, full of opportunities and with an eye on the present and the future.