Ban on meat imported from crisis-hit India

Mark Hughes / Khmer Times Share:
Cambodia has banned imports of frozen meat and meat products from India in a further effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Dreamstime

Cambodia has imposed a ban on the importation of frozen meat and meat products from India in a further effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 throughout the Kingdom.

The news was announced by Kun Nhim, director-general of Cambodia’s General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE) and took effect on Saturday until further notice.

It comes after a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases in India where new Coronavirus cases have risen by 392,488 and deaths from COVID-19  jumping by 3,689 over the past 24 hours, according to health ministry data released yesterday.

India’s total case load now stands at 19.56 million with 215,542 killed by the virus.

Nhim also advised customs officials to spray disinfectant on transport vehicles and the outer packaging of other products that have been sourced from India.

Earlier last week, the Kingdom also banned travellers from India in order to prevent the spread of the more infectious COVID-19 virus variant, B1617.

The setback came hard on the heels of an announcement that the embassy of India, Phnom Penh, in coordination with the Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, organised a virtual buyer and seller meeting (BSM) of buffalo and other meat exporters from India and importers from Cambodia.  It was held on April 28.  This was the first joint activity undertaken together by the embassy of India, Phnom Penh and the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce (CCC).

Around 61 companies from both sides participated in the event. From the Indian side, Dr Devyani Khobragade, ambassador of India, Dr M. Angamuthu and APEDA chairman participated in the event. The Cambodian Chamber of Commerce was represented by Meng Nimol, deputy director-general and adviser to Ministry of Commerce.

Angamuthu, Chairman, in his inaugural remarks, stated that as per the current Export and Import Policy of the Government of India, each  export consignment of meat is subject to compulsory microbiological and other tests.

All export-oriented abattoirs are modern, state-of-the-art integrated meat plants, certified for quality and food safety management and under constant inspection and monitoring by various government agencies and veterinarians. and all the plants follow relevant  sanitary and phyto-sanitary guidelines.

Buffalo meat exports from India to Cambodia in the first two months of 2021 reached $9.32 million and are expected to see exponential growth in the coming years.

In her keynote address, Khobragade spoke at length about meat and meat products consumption patterns in Cambodia, the gap between local production and domestic consumption and export opportunities for Indian companies.

She also expressed hope that given its world-class facilities and the resilient nature of the Indian meat industry, that Indian companies will be able to supply good quality meat and meat products to Cambodia at a much cheaper price and increase its already growing market share and in so doing further contribute to strengthening trade and commercial relations between the two countries.

Because APEDA also deals with agricultural and processed food products, Khobragade encouraged APEDA and the CCC to have a separate session open to both Indian and Cambodian companies in the agriculture sector to look at the opportunities available in the agro-processing sector for Indian industry in Cambodia.

She added that an enhanced cooperation in this sector will not only be a win-win situation for both countries but also provide Cambodia with an opportunity to further diversify its agriculture product portfolio in the medium to long-term.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nimol encouraged companies from both sides to interact with each other to explore business opportunities for expanding the trade relations between the two countries.

On April 28, the embassy of India, Phnom Penh also organised a virtual webinar between officials of the Ministry of AYUSH in India and the National Centre for Traditional Medicine in Cambodia (NCTM) to discuss possible areas of cooperation in the field of traditional medicine.

Deliberations during the meeting also included the signing of memoranda of understanding at country and institute level in the field of traditional medicine cooperation between the two nations.

This would include technical help to NCTM to register Cambodia’s traditional medicine practitioners, establishing manufacturing units by Indian Ayurveda (ancient natural health treatment) drug manufacturers in Cambodia,  the use of Ayurveda medicines for preventing/mitigating COVID-19 in Cambodia as well as establishing scholarships for Cambodian nationals interested in studying Ayurveda traditional medicine in India, among other possibilities.

Xinhua contributed to this story

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