THE “regionalization” agreement between Brasilia and Manila is expected to be signed soon, with both governments now in the final stages of ironing out its details, according to Brazil’s embassy in Manila.
“The will is there [to enter into a regionalization agreement with the Philippines],” Gilberto Fonseca Guimarães de Moura, Ambassador of Brazil to the Philippines, told the Inquirer in an interview.
Typically, the government orders a temporary import restriction to prevent the entry of animals, animal effects, parts or products from any country with dangerous communicable animal diseases.
Under a regionalization agreement, however, import bans will be imposed only on specific areas or zones with ongoing animal disease outbreaks, rather than enforcing the import restrictions on the entire country.
Guimarães de Moura said they expect the accord to take effect in a month, noting there are no objections and it is only a matter of formality.
Igor Magalhães Carneiro, head of the economic and trade section at the Embassy of Brazil in Manila, said they are “very close” to finalizing the regionalization agreement for poultry.
Carneiro said the two countries are working to define the parameters of the regionalization agreement, including its scope and geographical boundaries.
Ricardo Santin, president of the Brazilian Animal Protein Association, which represents Brazil’s poultry and pork producers and exporters, said having the regionalization agreement in place will provide “more stability” in terms of meat trade between the two countries.
“When you make this new agreement, we are making an insurance to avoid the disruption of the trade,” Santin told the Inquirer in an interview.
Brazil is still the country’s leading source of meat, accounting for 43.04 percent of 473.46 million kilograms of imported meat that arrived of end-April, data from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed.
In a related development, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has temporarily banned the entry of live cattle from France and Italy to prevent the spread of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) into the country.
The DA imposed the temporary importation ban covering live cattle and buffalo, their products and by-products, including milk and milk products, embryos, skin and semen from two European areas.
LSD is a viral disease that can lower milk production temporarily and cause temporary or permanent sterility in bulls, damage to hides and death on some occasions. (Jordeene B. Lagare © The Philippine Daily Inquirer)
