THE Fijian Government has an issue with Papua New Guinea in relation to the importation of corned beef in Fiji.
Making it public at the Fiji Business Forum in Suva on Saturday, the Minister for Industry and Trade, Faiyaz Koya, said this required biosecurity to conduct necessary things that it had to do.
“With respect to the corned beef, our biosecurity authority sent recommendations to Papua New Guinea and they were supposed to follow those recommendations before it is completed,” Mr Koya said.
Now, Mr Koya thinks that PNG jumped the gun.
“We have been declining the importation of that particular product of corned beef to Fiji,” he said.
The concerns, he said, arose from the normal individuals who are bringing it in.
He said PNG authorities reacted after the recommendation from the Fiji Biosecurity Authority, which was not healthy.
This, he said, was a breach of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Trade Agreement requirement.
“The Prime Minister says if there are any issues it will be resolved,” Mr Koya said
He said they had the necessary capacity to do that.
Radio New Zealand said Papua New Guinea’s Trade Minister, Richard Maru, complained to Fiji for the continuing ban on various PNG products.
His concerns include a stop on Ox & Palm corned beef, Trukai Rice and snacks entering Fiji.
The NZ media quoted Mr Maru said those were products carried by Papua New Guineans entering Fiji, which biosecurity officials often confiscated.
He said products such as Ox & Palm corned beef from Papua New Guinea were exported to Australia and Japan in commercial quantities, so he could not understand Fiji’s concerns.
The Post Courier reports that in terms of trade, Fiji exports much more to PNG than the other way around.
