In the series of events to mark the 75th anniversary year of India’s Independence and as part of efforts to promote agricultural cooperation and trade between India and Vietnam, the Embassy of India in Vietnam organized a virtual interactive meeting on trade in agro and allied commodities on 13th September 2021 to facilitate interaction between the regulatory authorities of the two countries and enable exchange of views on the entire spectrum of regulatory and market access issues in order to promote bilateral agriculture trade.
In him opening remarks, Ambassador of India, Pranay Verma highlighted the salience of agriculture and allied commodities in India-Vietnam bilateral trade by accounting for nearly 20% of the bilateral trade basket in 2020-21. He noted that agriculture trade brings direct benefits to farming communities of the two countries and is therefore, an important priority in Embassy's trade promotion activities. Ambassador said that agricultural cooperation has also been one of the mainstays of traditional bilateral cooperation between India and Vietnam as symbolized by iconic Indian development projects in Vietnam such as the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute and Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI) in Tien Giang set up in 1970s and 80s.
Ambassador hoped that the initiative taken by the Embassy through this interactive webinar would offer a platform to the two sides to exchange views and clarify regulatory practices to enhance trade in agriculture and allied commodities through better understanding of each other’s sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards, control and quality measures as well as market access issues between the two countries.
The webinar was attended by representatives of the regulatory bodies and relevant organizations on both sides with responsibility for ensuring quality and safety standards in trade of plant and animal-based products. From India, the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage (DPQS), Exports Inspection Council of India (EIC), the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Trade Division under the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare attended the event. From Vietnam, Department of Plant Protection, Department of Animal Health and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry participated. The meeting was followed by an online interactive session between these regulatory bodies and agricultural companies from both sides.
The regulatory bodies and relevant departments between India and Vietnam shared information on, inter-alia, import regulations of plant as well as animal-based products, quality and food safety control measures, rules on contaminants as well as pesticide management, technical requirements for market access, compliance on quarantine rules, digitization of application process for issuance of phytosanitary certificates, surveillance and inspection measures. While explaining roles and functions of their respective organizations, the regulatory bodies also responded to specific queries from agro-companies from both sides, particularly on the process for market access for specific agricultural and allied commodities.
***
Hanoi, 15th September 2021
