Argentine and Chinese officials met in Beijing to address issues related to training in aquaculture, the resolution of authorizing additives use, fishmeal exports and new investments in the fisheries-aquaculture sector.
During the 5th meeting of China-Argentina Fisheries Subcommittee, held under the Fisheries Cooperation Agreement between the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China (MOA), representatives of the two countries agreed on actions to strengthen issues related to health matters, with cooperation and trade in fishery resources.
The meeting was attended by the Undersecretary for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Miguel Bustamante; Agricultural counselor of the Argentine Embassy in China, Omar Odarda; and the director general of MOA’s Fisheries Bureau, Zhao Xingwu.
China increased the demand for Argentine shrimp in recent years, both in volume and in currency. But the Argentine Government stresses that, as the Asian country is undergoing a current regulation and legislation reorganization process, there are differences in opinion regarding the use of sulphites by entities participating in the fishery product control.
Therefore, Bustamante asked the deputy director general of the Department of Food Safety in China, Zhang Leishi, for the corresponding authorization.
“We’ve held a meeting that is very important to us, almost essential to ensure and increase our exports in 2015, given China’s growing demand for shrimp,” said the undersecretary.
“The authorization of the use of additives in China involves different agencies with different responsibilities in health control of fishery products. This meeting allowed us to generate a direct connection mechanism that will result in peace for our export fisheries sector in general and, in particular, of shrimp due to the use of metasulphite,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bustamante and Xingwu agreed on the need to promote scientific and technological cooperation in fisheries issues between the Academy of Fisheries Sciences of China and the National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development of Argentina (INIDEP).
It is anticipated that this collaboration is settled after signing an agreement between the two scientific entities in 2015, the Undersecretariat of Fisheries informed.
Since maritime and inland aquaculture is considered an activity having great potential in Argentina, the Argentine government sent the Aquaculture bill seeking to promote development and adding value in origin to the National Congress.
On the other hand, China is the largest aquaculture producer in the world, producing almost 50 million tonnes a year. Given its extensive experience in this sector, 17 technicians from different Argentine institutions received the first training in aquaculture in the city of Beijing in mid-2013.
With regard to the request of Argentina to reduce or eliminate the current tariffs applicable on squid (Illex argentinus) and shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri) exports to the Chinese market, the general director of the Fisheries Bureau asked the Argentine government to send a concrete proposal to this end.
On the issue of fishmeal exports, from the Undersecretariat of Fisheries it is explained that the Hygienic Standard for Feed of the People’s Republic of China, which regulates the percentage of cadmium, was conceived based on the processing of whole fish. And as in Argentina fishmeal is produced from the viscera and offal, cadmium levels in the finished product is higher. Therefore, the Underecretariat will submit a technical report with the backing and support of the National Health and Food Quality Service (SENASA) and domestic enterprises that produce fishmeal, for the Ministry of Agriculture of China to evaluate the situation.
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