Thailand spearheads ASEAN Shrimp Alliance

BANGKOK, June 29 (TNA) - Thailand's Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is joining with neighbouring countries in the region to form an ASEAN Shrimp Alliance to promote the sustainable trade of their seafood product.

Agriculture Minister Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan said that representatives of shrimp producers and traders from Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines and Thailand met to form an ASEAN Shrimp Alliance to be a forum for cooperation to harmonise ASEAN-wide quality standards and a certification system.

Its purpose is to win recognition among consumers and buyers, and to strengthen the price of ASEAN products in the world market.

Both ASEAN-region governmental and commercial sectors will take part in the ASEAN Shrimp Alliance activities, according to Khunying Sudarat.

In a first step toward establishing the new group, the first meeting of the Alliance asked Thailand's Fisheries Department and the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre to study the scope, role, mandate, possible technical cooperation, trade and industry agreements within the framework of the Alliance.

The group will meet again in July to review its progress.

Fisheries Department director-general Jaranthada Karnasuta said the ASEAN Shrimp Alliance website is under construction and will serve as an information portal on academic, trade and regulatory information for members.

TNA