Writer: Agriculture and Food Cluster Team
Government officials and experts met in Thailand to ensure a freer flow of safe fruits and vegetables within Southeast Asia.
The workshop entitled: Regional Workshop for Alignment and Improvement of Regulatory Framework and Procedures to Facilitate Trade for Agricultural Goods in ASEAN held on 26 November 2018 in Pattaya emphasized on improving phytosanitary measures for agricultural goods from three ASEAN countries – Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
To conduct inspection more effectively, the participants agreed that improved skill and knowledge of inspectors at the borders could help make sure that fruits and vegetables are free from harmful pests and plant diseases.
A training for plant quarantine inspectors of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam planned for 2019 will include the topic on sampling procedure and identifying pest to facilitate faster trade at the border.
During the workshop, the participants discussed the findings of the Comparison Study on Regulatory Frameworks in three ASEAN countries and exchanged knowledge and experiences through peer-to-peer learning on recommendations for alignment and improvement of regulatory framework and procedures relevant to trade of agricultural goods.
The Comparison Study was conducted to compare regulatory frameworks in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, to identify issues and recommendations for possible alignment and improvement on five selected topics – Pest Risk Analysis (PRA), Regulated Pest List, Phytosanitary Import Regulatory System (Import Procedures), Phytosanitary Certificates (Export Procedures) and MRL (Maximum Residue Level) of six crops (i.e. mango, banana, litchi, longan, dragon fruit and chili).
The event was organized by the Facilitating Trade for Agricultural Goods in ASEAN (FTAG) Project in collaboration with the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards (ACFS) of Thailand.
The Facilitating Trade for Agricultural Goods in ASEAN (FTAG) is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in collaboration with Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The project aims to develop recommendations for alignment of regulatory framework concerning food safety and phytosanitary measures and procedures between ASEAN and specific countries (i.e. Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam).
