SERNAPESCA director José Miguel Burgos at a meeting with Chinese officials visiting the country. (Photo: Sernapesca)
CHILE
Friday, May 08, 2015, 23:20 (GMT + 9)
A delegation of representatives from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) visited fishmeal and fish oil processing plants located in Arica, Bío Bío and the Metropolitan Region.
The visit's main objective is to audit the sanitary conditions of the plants and assess the empowerment to export their products to China of two new establishments.
AQSIQ personnel was received by the national director of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA), José Miguel Burgos, who stressed the good relations between both nations.
Burgos said the Chinese market is very important for shipments of fish oil and fishmeal for non-human consumption, since it absorbs 40 per cent of exports of these products.
Chinese delegates toured the regions of Arica and Parinacota, Bío Bío and Metropolitana, where they visited nine facilities that manufacture fishmeal and fish oil not intended for human consumption to determine if they renew their authorizations to export their products to China.
They also visited two new establishments aspiring to export their products to the Asian country.
In addition, they assessed two laboratories in order to ensure that all procedures required by SERNAPESCA and Chinese authorities are met.
"China has always had a friendly and cooperative relationship with Chile. In fact, it was the first with which a free trade agreement was signed in South America," stressed the head of the AQSIQ delegation, Yonghong Chen.
He also noted that Chilean fishmeal represents 10 per cent of imports for China, and he stressed SERNAPESCA’s controls on fishmeal and fish oil production.
The deputy director of Foreign Trade Service, Claudia Rozas, reported that "except for some specific observations as to health management or suggestions for improvement in infrastructure in certain facilities, no relevant observations of the control system were made."
However, she said that SERNAPESCA committed "to take note of the comments and address them."
The visit of the Chinese delegation is part of the memorandum of understanding that sets the performance of an audit every five years.