Washington potato industry addresses trade issues at two venues
As a follow-up to the recent visit from Mexico’s out-going President Vicente Fox, a delegation from Mexico met with a small group of businesses from Washington State to discuss trade and economic development.
The meeting included Dr. Irma Gomez, Mexican Undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Washington State Potato Commissioner Frank Martinez, as well as WSPC Director of Trade Matt Harris. Others attending the session included representatives from the Governor’s Office, Washington State Dept. of Agriculture, the Washington State Apple Commission, US Bank, the Port of Seattle and Nintendo.
Dr. Gomez presented an economic overview of Mexico to the group and the current government’s achievements in increasing trade investments, technology transfer, establishing a credible legal framework, and lowering the vulnerability of Mexico’s economy to foreign shocks. Dr. Gomez also spoke about pending actions to be addressed this year, which included Mexico’s ability “to increase bilateral cooperation to secure borders without affecting trade.”
After the presentation, the group was able to talk openly to the Undersecretary about specific industry needs, which included potato industry phytosanitary issues.
Matt Harris also represented Washington State when government and potato industry officials from the US, Canada and Mexico met for the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO) Potato meeting In Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island last week. NAPPO is a regional plant health organization dedicated to protecting the phytosanitary security of plants in North America while also promoting trade.
Much of the meeting focused on Draft Appendix 8 to the NAPPO Potato Standard. Draft Appendix 8 seeks to create criteria for establishing pest-free zones for certain potato pests. The US industry has been following this issue closely to ensure that this draft appendix, when eventually implemented, will be used to promote trade and not hinder exports.
US industry officials stressed the importance of recognizing that international plant health standards allow for both pest free areas and for the establishment of systems approaches to reduce the risk of pests in exports. The pests currently listed in Draft Appendix 8 were reduced from eight possible pests to three: golden nematode, potato spindle tuber viroid and bacterial ring rot.
The NAPPO Secretariat proposed a general format that could be used when working on the requirements for pest free areas for each of these pests. It is expected that Draft Appendix 8 will take several years to complete.
Chef2Chef News Desk