WINNIPEG, MB -- Mexico's Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food, Alberto Cardenas Jimenez, and Gerry Ritz, Canada's Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food met Tuesday to discuss and review common strategic agri-food issues.
Ritz and Cardenas agreed on the importance of normalizing trade in cattle and beef on the basis of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) principles as soon as possible, a release from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said. To this end, they agreed that technical officials will meet during the third week of February 2008, to review the final details of the appropriate protocols to enable trade to resume.
Cardenas and Ritz also agreed that technical officials will work expeditiously with a view to resuming trade in seed potatoes as quickly as possible.
The two officials also committed to move forward in Canada's willingness to undertake a commodity-based risk assessment approach for the export of poultry products and by-products from Mexico.
"In the global economy, Mexico and Canada are strategic partners, sharing common interests and goals," said Cardenas. "As partners, we must look beyond NAFTA, and look for new and more creative ways to maintain the benefits originally conferred by this Agreement, as well as to strengthen the very special relationship that exists between our countries."
Canada and Mexico also share concerns about certain aspects of the US Farm Bill, in particular as it relates to the provisions for mandatory country-of-origin labelling, the release said.
"Our countries consider that these measures will have a negative impact on our commercial relations rather than supporting the forward-looking strategies that promote market development in the North American Region," Ritz said.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for Ritz and Cardenas to underline the recent signing by the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada of a Memorandum of Understanding on scientific and technical cooperation.
Ritz and Cardenas also reviewed progress made on the trade elements of the agendas of the Canada-Mexico Consultative Committee on Agriculture (CCA) and the Agri-Business Working Group of the Canada-Mexico Partnership.
Mexico is Canada's second largest source of agri-food imports after the United States. Canada imported about C$890 million in agri-food products from Mexico in 2006. In that same year, Canada exported C$1.3 billion in agri-food products to Mexico, making Mexico Canada's fourth-largest export destination for agri-food products.Resource News International
