DUSHANBE, December 30, 2015, Asia-Plus — Two FAO events, a Presentation and Technical Workshop to enable Tajik producers to export honey and to increase export of dried fruit to European Union (EU) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets, were held in Dushanbe this month.
According to the FAO Country Office in Tajikistan, these events brought together representatives of Ministry of agriculture of the Republic of Tajikistan, other related agencies, and producers.
During these events there followed a very constructive discussion on food safety, GCC and EU requirements for honey and druid fruits, quality parameters for the exporting products, including growing, harvesting, storage, packaging labeling, transporting and tariff information.
“Tajik producers need to be given the possibility of producing according to requirements of other countries, not only of the national standards and requirements,” – said Mr. Viorel Gutu, FAO Representative in Tajikistan.
According to Mr. V. Gutu, FAO’s Regional Initiative on Agro-Food Trade and Regional Integration focuses on strengthening national and regional capacities in Europe and Central Asia to deal effectively with the challenges posed by greater trade integration. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan has expressed interest in receiving FAO assistance for acceding new markets for Tajikistan’s exports of honey and dried fruit.
In that context, there was invited the expert, who tasked with preparing a Guide that outlines the measures, norms, standards and procedures, including those related to sanitary phytosanitary and food safety, as well as the steps needed to be taken in order for Tajik exports to enter both the EU and Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) markets. jik producers trained on exports issues of EC and GCC’s markets
