Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Ken Saito has called on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to abolish the Chinese region’s import ban on food from five prefectures in eastern Japan.
“I asked the Hong Kong leader to scrap the ban based on scientific grounds,” Saito told reporters after holding talks with Lam in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Following the triple core meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011, Hong Kong banned imports of vegetables, fruits and dairy products from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures.
Saito noted that people in Hong Kong are very interested in Japanese food. Hong Kong is a major importer of Japanese agriculture, forestry and fisheries products. Saito expressed confidence that he would be able to expand consumption of Japanese food in the region.
