The 5th Official Monitoring Committee Meeting of the IPARD III Programme was convened in Ankara.
In his address at the meeting, ARDSI Director Dr Ahmet Antalyalı, highlighted that the most significant development in the IPARD III period has been the expansion of the Programme’s geographical coverage—from 42 provinces to all 81 provinces of Türkiye.
Dr Antalyalı recalled that five calls for applications were launched in 2024 under IPARD III and that the 2025 annual call calendar was published on 25 March. Emphasizing the effective implementation of the previous programming periods, he noted:
“We are pleased to report that 99.4% of the funds allocated to Türkiye under IPARD I and 99.7% under IPARD II have been disbursed. These are the highest fund absorption rates both among beneficiary candidate countries and across all multiannual EU financial programmes implemented in Türkiye.”
He further stated that, under IPARD III, the number of selected projects has reached 1,762, with a total grant commitment of TRY 11.6 billion, corresponding to a total investment volume of TRY 18.4 billion.
The IPARD III Programme, co-financed by Türkiye and the European Union, is part of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPARD), which aims to provide financial assistance to EU candidate and potential candidate countries. During the meeting, presentations were delivered on the activities carried out in the first half of the year, followed by a Q&A session where Committee members' inquiries were addressed.
Participants included Dr Osman Yıldız, Director General for Agricultural Reform; Frank Bollen, Director for Agriculture and Rural Development at the European Commission (via videoconference); Krzysztof Sulima, IPARD Programme Officer for Türkiye at the European Commission; Leyla Alma, Sector Officer at the EU Delegation to Türkiye; Ali Doğan, Deputy Director General for Foreign Economic Relations at the Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Fethi Saygın, Chief Treasury Controller representing the Audit Authority; and representatives from the Directorate for EU Affairs, including the National IPA Coordinator (NIPAC) Office.
