VN values European fisheries committee support

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam made this statement at his meeting with President of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee Mato Adrover in Brussels on April 25.

Mr. Tam said he hopes that the EU will become the leading importer of Vietnam’s seafood.

He also stressed that Vietnam-EU relations have seen positive developments and are looking towards a wider and deeper development in the future, especially in trade.

According to Deputy Minister Tam, the application of advanced certificates is Vietnam’s target, however, this will push up prices and put pressure on consumption markets.

The biggest challenge for Viẹtnam’s seafood exporters is to provide updated information for importers on the industry’s efforts to improve aquacultural quality, he said.

Deputy Minister Tam proposed specific measures to strengthen cooperation between Vietnam and the committee, such as increasing dialogues and information sharing.

Vietnam expects to receive technical assistance and consultation from the committee on the development of Vietnam’s fisheries as well as favorable conditions for Vietnam’s seafood to access advanced technology in production and exports and deal with obstacles when Vietnam exports seafood to EU, he said.

He also asked the committee to help Vietnam to jointly organize a conference in 2013 to evaluate the impacts of regulations 1005 and 2008 on the seafood sector with the participation of nine ASEAN countries together with Australia and New Guinea .

He also said he hopes that the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee and Vietnam ’s agro product quality management agency will strengthen cooperation and create favourable conditions for Vietnamese seafood and agro products to enter the EU market at the lowest costs and prices. For his part, Mato Adrover affirmed that Vietnam and the EU shared a common view on how to manage and develop the seafood industry.

He also agreed that there should be more open dialogues and experience exchanges between the EU, the European parliament and Vietnam.

He said the committee is willing to provide technical support and join hands with Vietnam to organize a conference proposed by the Southeast Asian country in 2013 – VNA.