The Brazilian Minister of Agricultre, Katia Abreu, met with the Chinese Miniseter, Han Changfu, last Wednesday (18), in Beijing. She reinforced that Mercosur and China should progress on talks concerning preferential trade agreeement.
During her visit, she also announced that 7 new Brazilian meat producers received authorization from the Chinese quarantine authorities and will be able to export their products to China. The minister also visited Saudi Arabia and India.
She said that, currently, Brazil and China trade USD 78 billion per year, and this value may reach USD 100 billion soon. A trade agreement between Brazil and China would be a great contribution to achieve this goal.
According to her, Uruguay, who will assume the Presidency of Mercosur in December, is supporting the creation of a bilateral group, to advance in these trade talks. She also highlighted that, despite reducing tariffs, the agreement should include harmonization of laws and procedures.
Transgenics
Genetically Modified Organisms were also in her agenda. She addressed the need of technical convergence and regulations, so as to bring thrust among Brazilian and Chinese products.
“A fast track mechanism to approve the commerce in this field and also the share of information is essential”, she added.
She bolded that Brazil’s legislation in this field is very Strong and transparent, and that EMBRAPA (Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research) and CAAS (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences) should cooperate with each other.
“It would be very important for both countries, and a win-win situation, since Brazil is one of the world’s leading grain exporter and China a mayor buyer. Everything that we can do to invest in research and development in high quality and low price food should be put into practice.”