Update: 2:47PM NEW Zealand has lifted a temporary ban on eggplants exported from Fiji.
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Biosecurity Authority of Fiji (BAF) chief executive officer
Hillary Kumwenda confirmed this during the Fiji BAF-NZMPI (New Zealand Ministry
for Primary Industries) Bilateral Quarantine Agreement (BQA) meeting earlier
this morning at the Tanoa Hotel in Suva.
The fruit was slapped with a temporary suspension earlier
this year after the NZ Ministry for Primary Industries intercepted eggs, live
larvae and adult insects on a consignment of heat-treated fruit from Fiji.
This also comes as good news to about 150 farmers and seven
exporters who were affected by the ban
on eggplant exports to New Zealand.
NZ MPI chief technical officer Dr Stephen Butcher, who led
the delegation to the bilateral meeting, said trade would now resume as normal
after the lifting of the ban.
�Eggplants are one of those products that can be affected by
fruit fly and we had some problems and some issues that we had to address,� he
said.
�But in collaboration with BAF now, we have quickly resolved
that and the suspension has been lifted.�
Attended by NZ MPI
delegates and BAF officials, the meeting fostered dialogue and resuscitated
ties between the two counterparts after a lapse of 15 years.
The meeting also saw discussions on agricultural commodities
traded under the BQA agreement which was also signed today.
Other matters relating to trade of agricultural produce between
the two countries were also the focus of the discussions.
