Egypt's Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation has announced to be holding talks to open markets for the export of Egyptian agricultural products to markets in Asia and Africa.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry last week, the Central Administration for Agricultural Quarantine is making contacts and consultations with the plant quarantine authorities in South Africa to discuss the requirements needed to open their market to citrus fruit and grape exports.
The statement said that agreements are currently being promoted by Egyptian exporters to open Asian markets for Egyptian agricultural products, and that Egyptian-Japanese talks to open that market to Egyptian citrus is also still underway.
The statement emphasised that the Quarantine Department is working to tighten controls on the agricultural products that are already exported to nearly 25 countries.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation announced that there is a plan to double fruit and vegetable exports to the world market, promoting the comparative advantages of Egyptian crops and looking for demand from foreign markets in order to increase and improve producers' incomes; the plan also involves tighter controls over ports and fields to ensure the conformity of Egyptian agricultural products to all necessary specifications and international standards.
The export of citrus fruits, potatoes and vegetables to the Gulf countries and Europe currently amount to about 2.984 million tonnes, (including 634 thousand tonnes of potatoes, 1.396 million tonnes of citrus and 948 thousand tonnes of vegetables).
