World Bank affiliate to support Balkan herb industry

SEED, a World Bank affiliate dedicated to the promotion of small and medium sized enterprises in the Balkans, has begun a series of initiatives designed to rehabilitate the Balkan Herbal industry once a major source of raw materials and extracts for the EU market. With technical assistance from Denzil Phillips International SEED's first move has been to sponsor a regional herbal forum.

This historic event, which took place at the coastal town on Portoroz, Slovenia from Sept 17-19 2001, was the first time in recent years that all those companies involved with medicinal plants and extracts had an opportunity to sit together to map out the future of the Balkan herbal industry.

Most of the leading regional suppliers attended the Forum alongside some of Western Europe's most important herbal manufacturers and importers. South East Europe has for centuries been a producer and consumer of medicinal plants and herbal medicines. The varied climate and geography of the region enables a vast array of temperate and Mediterranean plants to be grown. A rich medical and engineering tradition has moreover encouraged the manufacturing of a wide range of photo-medicines, perfumes and cosmetic products. During the 1970s and 80s the former Yugoslavia supplied medicinal and aromatic products to a host of leading Western European, American and Soviet companies.

Political upheavals in recent times have severely disrupted herbal manufacturing and trade within the region. Some of the most important medicinal plants are severely endangered due to overharvesting and lack of appropriate environmental legislation. Through this Forum SEED wants to promote fresh thinking and help reintegrate the regions herbal producers into the mainstream of Western Europe's herbal industry. For further information see http://www.balkanherbs.org.