The National Fisheries Quality Assurance and Veterinary Directorate (Nafiqad) is pursuing discussions with a Ukrainian partner for the establishment of a joint coordination mechanism to monitor imports and exports of seafood between the two countries.
It has also invited officials from the State Committee for Veterinary Medicine of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine to come to examine the performance of Vietnamese seafood processors which intend to export their products to Ukraine.
These intentions were contained in a letter sent by Nafiqad Vice Director Tran Bich Nga to Pyotr Verbitsky, Ukrainian Chief State Veterinary Inspector, in preparation for Ukraine’s application of a new regulation regarding the monitoring of imports of meat and meat by-products as from July 23, 2009.
The new Ukrainian regulation requires foreign exports to be evaluated and given the okay by relevant Ukrainian agencies before being shipped and sold in there.
While waiting for examination and recognition, Vietnam has asked Ukraine to allow its seafood exporters to continue sending shipments into the country if they pass food safety and hygiene requirements imposed by the market.
The Nafiqad has also asked Ukraine to provide a full account of its guidelines relating to food safety and quarantine of imported and exported seafood to facilitate possible coordination between the two sides on the issue.
Nafiqad has affirmed that relevant Vietnamese agencies keep a close eye on the safety and hygiene of imported and exported seafood, having already signed bilateral cooperation agreements to this effect with Canada , the Republic of Korea , China , Russia , Cambodia , and Thailand.
By the end of June, 2009, 300 Vietnamese seafood exporters have met standards for exports to the EU, 442 for the Republic of Korea, 444 for China, 238 for Canada and 30 for Russia.
In the first half of this year, Vietnam earned nearly 1.7 billion USD from seafood, with 375 million USD coming from the EU, which accounted for 26 percent of Vietnam’s seafood earnings./.