The undersecretary of Agriculture, Claudio Ternicier, the general manager of the Association of Fruit Exporters of Chile AG (Asoex), Miguel Canala-Echeverria, and the general manager of the Association of Pork Producers (Asprocer), Rodrigo Castanon, successfully visited different cities in Mexico for five days to discuss different agro-industrial guidelines with the authorities and the private sector of this country. The visit also involved the agricultural attaché of Chile in Mexico, Alberto Zepeda Child.
The national delegation met with the chief director of the National Service of Health, Food Safety and Quality of Mexico (SENASICA), Enrique Sanchez, with whom they discussed various aspects of bilateral trade. They also discussed the need to finalize the implementation of Electronic Certification, and committed to enforce it this year. "This visit is very important for us because it serves to further strengthen ties with Mexico, which is a very important country for our commercial interests in agriculture," Ternicier said.
The authorities also discussed the need for a new framework agreement regarding several issues, such as training through joint cooperation, specifically in dog training for the border's phytosanitary and animal control; safety, and scientific cooperation, among others issues.
The general manager of Asoex, Miguel Canala-Echeverria, highlighted the good relations between Chile and Mexico, mainly regarding the fruit sector, which was widely reinforced during this visit. "We had the opportunity to meet with the heads of Senasica and the National Agricultural Council, with whom we discussed various topics of special interest to our industry, such as safety, electronic certification, the Pacific Alliance, pest risk, and gene banks. We analysed how we could deepen technical cooperation and joint work," he said.
The businessman added: "Regarding the exchange of agricultural products, we discussed how to advance the income of Chilean avocados in relation to the access that the Mexican avocados already have into our country. We also discussed how to improve the entry of Chilean table grapes, which currently must be fumigated."
In addition, the public-private delegation visited the plant and animal health inspection facilities in and out of the port of Manzanillo, where authorities performed a statistics analysis of the reception of Chilean products that confirmed there was a significant decline in domestic shipments of agricultural and livestock products that do not meet the requirements established by Mexican regulations governing imports.
The Chilean mission also visited the city of Guadalajara, where it was received by the Secretary of Rural Development of Jalisco, Hector Padilla, and the directory of the WTC Confianza group, which manages the River Trade project that aims at offering a logistics alternative through the implementation of maritime air for Chilean export products to Asia. This would involve the products arriving to the port of Manzanillo by sea, where they would then be shipped to Asia through the Guadalajara International Airport.
Source: asoex.cl