Chile to Support Vietnam to Improve Post-Harvest Quality

Chile is working out a project to support Vietnam to improve quality of its post-harvest farm produce, the Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon newspaper reported, citing a Chilean trade official. Jaime Riversa, trade commissioner with Commercial Department Prochile in Vietnam, said the project is designed in cooperation with the Vietnam Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI). A report on the assistance project has been submitted to Chilean authorities for approval, the official said, adding that Chile wants to assist Vietnam to upgrade the freezing system, packaging line and the decontaminating process. Vietnam is now one of the biggest suppliers of coffee to Chile, and a big exporter of farm produce to many countries worldwide. But coffee now seems the only one farm produce imported by Chile which has set a high technical barrier to agricultural imports, with strict tests of quality and safety. Chile has demand for some types of fruits from Vietnam like dragon fruit, rambutan and litchi. But the Southern American country has not yet imported any of them since they did not pass its strict quality tests. The assistance project may facilitate Vietnamese farm produce exporters’ ambition to enter the Chile market, Riversa said. The trade official added that in the ongoing negotiations on free trade agreement with Vietnam, Chile will allow this Asian country to do quarantine tests on agricultural products in accordance with Chilean regulations instead of sending goods to Chile for the tests like before. Chile is also trying to have lower tariffs for its exports of wine to Vietnam, he said. (thesaigontimes.vn Oct 27)