Government says it will continue the push to have all fishing facilities brought up to the phytosanitary standards of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in an effort to gain access to the European market.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley said the country had made yet another stride forward with the opening of the new Pile Bay Fish Landing Facility yesterday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the state-of-the-art St Michael complex, she said this type of upgrade was pivotal to the requisite groundwork that would go hand in hand with the legislative framework to enable those in the industry to get maximum earnings from the sector.
According to the WTO, the agreement on the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures sets out the basic rules for food safety, and animal and plant health standards. It allows countries to set their own standards, but also says regulations must be based on science.
“We have talked about the phytosanitary measures before. This country has been unable to export fish to Europe because of a failure to be able to have the appropriate standards in our fish markets and the legislative framework. We have been working assiduously . . . to put those appropriate standards in place. We are also working assiduously to get the legislation in place so that our fishermen can sustainably and responsibly fish,” Mottley said. (CLM)
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