This week an official delegation from Chile is visiting the Popular Republic of China in order to maintain contacts with local sanitary and food authorities, and to become aware of and be able to contrast the sanitary regulations of both countries.
The Chilean delegation is headed by the National Director of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca), Juan Luis Ansoleaga.
Chilean and Chinese officials seek to learn about the relevant sanitary checks to facilitate the shipments of seafood from Chile to China.
The Chilean officials were received by the Deputy Director of Food Safety Bureau, under the General Administration of Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China (AQSIQ), Lin Wei.
The Asian authority stressed the good bilateral economic relations and the progress made since the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in October 2006.
Wei recalled that last year China imported 94,000 tonnes of Chilean fisheries and aquaculture products worth USD 169 million, that is to say, 5 per cent more than in 2011.
He also referred to the normative and institutional framework that regulates the entry of food and fishery products to China, and to the requirements that must be met in order to accept a new product.
Meanwhile, Ansoleaga detailed the efforts made by Sernapesca to raise the sanitary quality standards in the country. In this regard, he mentioned the strict controls that are made to the 187 approved plants to make exports to the Asian country.
Meanwhile, Wei Baozhen, director of the National Fisheries Technology Extension Centre, explained that this entity is concerned about the technological development of China, which in recent years has been strongly oriented towards aquaculture.
"Aquaculture now accounts for 70 per cent of the fish production volume in China," stated Baozhen, and covers the cultivation of freshwater and saltwater fish, algae and molluscs.
The director of the Centre also expressed his hope that China can increase imports of fishmeal from Chile, as it is a necessary feed for eel aquaculture.
As it was indicated by the Foreign Trade Deputy Director of Sernapesca, Cecilia Solis, the Chinese authorities will propose to work on a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of facilitating the exchange of information and to promote chilled salmon import.
To this end, Chinese authorities will certainly visit Chile in the course of this year.
The Chilean delegation toured the town of Tianjin, one of the main ports of China, and is to hold meetings with local entrepreneurs. The visitors also plan to go to landing sites, processing plants, supermarkets and other outlets.
Besides Ansoleaga and Solis, the head of the Department of Production and Safety of the Salmon Technological Institute, Carolina San Martin; Loreto Inostroza, chief of Friosur Quality Management; and Erwin Campos, a representative ofCamanchaca company travelled to China.