In order to accelerate the presence of more Colombian agricultural products in the United States market, a government commission led by the ICA met with the import authorities of that country.
The general manager of the ICA, Deyanira Barrero Leon, participated in the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (CSPM) in Washington, which assesses the requirements for the entry of agricultural products to that country, to achieve the admissibility of different Colombian products, such as mango, pitahaya, and paprika.
The results of the bilateral meeting on plant health, held last February, in Sacramento, California, were presented in the Committee, in which progress was made for the technical work plan in paprika, which was reviewed by the ICA's technical team and by the MSF committee, the ICA delivered the comments to this document.
"The next step in this process is the publication by Aphis of the regulatory note for 60 days. In this period of time, importers and exporters can make comments and, if appropriate, the regulation would be adjusted to proceed to the final notification of importation of paprika. Our expectation is to achieve the phytosanitary admissibility of the paprika in the II semester of the year 2019," stated the general manager of the ICA.
Work
"We continue to work for the eligibility of mango and pitahaya and to expand exports of Hass avocado, which are products that enjoy international recognition for their phytosanitary quality. We continue working based on the National Government and the Ministry of Agriculture's Health Diplomacy, to take advantage of the country's FTAs," she added.
The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures CSPM is an important instance to evaluate progress and pending issues in the SPM issues in such a way that the sanitary and phytosanitary admissibility of agricultural products can be made viable. On this occasion, the Committee recognized the importance of maintaining a bilateral relationship between the responsible agencies, which in this case are Aphis USDA, the ICA, FSIS, and Imvima.
Another important issue that was discussed at the meeting was the technical review of the Hass avocado export work plan, which will increase exports guaranteeing the product's phytosanitary safety. With the increase in exports of fruit, the ICA has demonstrated its technical and operational capacity, which has generated confidence so that together with Aphis they can adjust some requirements of the work plan that may allow the registration of a greater number of areas and producers for export.
Source: elnuevosiglo.com.co