An overview of sixth ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting on SPS Cooperation (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The sixth ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting on QualitySupervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (SPS) Cooperation was held in Hanoi onOctober 12.
The meeting is held biennially tointensify dialogue and cooperation on SPS and boost the trading of agriculturalproducts between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.
Vietnamese Minister ofAgriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that over the pastthree decades, the bilateral partnership has been expanded to numerous fields,in which the SPS cooperation plays an important role with many activities beingimplemented to facilitate the flow and trading of agricultural products betweenthe two sides.
Last year, ASEAN-China trade madea record high of nearly 515 billion USD, with food and farm produce being animportant contributor.
Since the ASEAN-China Free TradeArea (ACFTA) was formed in 2010, two-way trade has posted an annual average growthrate of nearly 20 percent. China is currently ASEAN’s largest trade partner,and the bloc is the former’s third biggest trader, Cuong said.
He stressed that this year’smeeting offered a chance for both sides to review their cooperation results inthe past two years and approve an action plan for the next two years as well aspreparing for the making of a memorandum of understanding on SPS cooperation ina new period in order to better facilitate the implementation of the ACFTA agreement.
The minister also appreciatedChina’s assistance for ASEAN and its organisation of activities to shareinformation and increase the ASEAN’s capacity in quality supervision,inspection, and quarantine.–VNA
VNA
