Task force on shrimp issues
Agriculture Minister Thira Sutabutra said this week his ministry would set up a task force to solve problems created by Australia's recently introduced restrictive measures against Thai shrimp.
Thira said the committee would consist of representatives from the Fisheries Department, related agencies and the private sector. The committee will prepare the information for the ministry in negotiating with the Australian government. Australia's Biosecurity Agency recently recommended tighter sanitary requirements for shrimp imports. Thira said the ministry planned to submit a report to the Australian agency by mid-February. It will then invite Australian officials to come to Thailand to inspect shrimp-farming standards here. Earlier, Thai shrimp-exporters claimed that the recently introduced measures included, for instance, a requirement to have shrimp heated to a temperature that would make them decompose to the point where they could not be exported. At the same time, the ministry has asked the Fisheries Department to closely monitor the situation of export markets in all of the Kingdom's trading partners.
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