Processing catfish in the My Tho industrial park in Tien Giang province (Source: VNA)WashingtonDC (VNA) - The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working hardwith a view to early recognizing Vietnam’s regulatory system on catfishmanagement to be equivalent to that of the US, said first Deputy Secretary ofUSDA Stephen Censky.
Censky affirmed this at a meeting on June 26 with Vietnamese Deputy PrimeMinister Vuong Dinh Hue, who is on an official visit to the US from June 25-27.
Forhis part, the Vietnamese Government leader stressed that Vietnam considers theUnited States an important trading partner.
He proposed that the USDA sign a framework agreement on agriculture cooperationwith Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), and asked theUS agency to be flexible in the process of equivalence assessment and facilitateVietnam’s catfish export to the US.
The two countries should enhance joint work in smart agriculture, developmentof low-emission agriculture production models and models for adapting to andmitigating climate change in highly vulnerable areas such as the Red River andMekong Deltas of Vietnam, Hue stressed.
Heurged the US side to accelerate the import of mango of Vietnam and considerimporting other fruits, firstly pomelo.
Censkythanked the Vietnamese leader for his efforts to promoting agriculturalcooperation between the two countries, saying that the US would begin importingstar apple and is completing final procedures for importing mango from Vietnam.
TheUSDA will work with the MARD to discuss measures to implement Deputy PM Hue’s proposals,especially the import of pomelo in the coming time, he said.
He also asked Vietnam to consider importing US fruits such as blueberries andother citrus fruits.-VNA
VNA
