The German Development Agency, or GIZ, has unveiled a new mechanism yesterday, entitled Facilitating Trade for Agricultural Goods in Asean (FTAG) in order to provide recommendations for Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and other Asean countries to support the facilitation of agricultural trade in Asean.
It found hindrances which might slow down the movement of goods across the borders among Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Within Asean, approximately 30 percent of trade takes place between member states. Although in general the level of intra-Asean trade is low, trade in agricultural goods (fruits and vegetables) between Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam is significantly higher, GIZ said.
FTAG was, therefore, initiated to encourage free movement of goods to increase intra-Asean trade, which is one of the Asean goals.
“The FTAG project is being implemented in collaboration with Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam with the ultimate goal to provide recommendations to Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Asean to support facilitation of agricultural goods trade in Asean by emphasising food safety and phytosanitary measures,” it said.
Mr Niponiamsupasit, regional consultant for FTAG, said in the case of phytosanitary and food safety control there was no appropriate risk analysis conducted on imports.
This led to suboptimal testing, which might mean higher levels of testing and sampling than necessary, causing a burden for traders, or higher threats to the health.
The problem includes lack of risk profiling for the risk assessment. There was no systematic keeping of records and collection of information, defining risk criteria, and adequate software, a lack of adequate skills, hardware, and lack of information exchange between agencies.
