Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that European Union (EU) had stopped seafood import from Pakistan. "The companies exporting seafood from Pakistan to European Union (EU) were delisted for the reason that none of them were meeting international standards for food security," the Minister informed the National Assembly on Monday while replying to a question.
He said the process to improve the fisheries sector for compliance of international and European standards has been launched. For lifting the ban, various steps have been taken including modernisation of laboratory services of Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) and accreditation of chemical labs. Improvement of fishing vessels/ hygiene practices, improvement of landing/auction sites, improvement of fish processing plants, strengthening of fisheries production chain is underway, he said. More than two hundred fishermen's boats have been modified according to EU specifications, he said.
"Ministry of Livestock informed that as a result of these measures 09 of the delisted units are ready for inspection visits of EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) inspectors," he said. He said that in this regard, Ministry of Commerce has been requesting the EU to send its inspectors to the units to check the level of compliance, so that exports of fisheries to EU can be resumed.
"The matter has been taken up in the Pak-EU Joint Commission, Pak-EU Summit and meetings with EU officials. However, the subject visit is being repeatedly postponed due to security concerns. The Ministry is pursuing the matter," he added.
In another written reply, the Minister said that at present, Pakistan has trade relations with almost all countries except Israel and Taiwan. He said apart from the traditional markets, the Ministry of Commerce is making active efforts to explore new markets for Pakistani products abroad focusing on regions like Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa and South America.
He added that TDAP is going to participate in 87 international exhibitions around the world during the current financial year. Among these, five are going to be held in Russia, one in Poland, nine in Africa, and two in South America. Single country exhibitions are also being planned in Russia and Chile during current financial year.