At the meeting of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Argentina presented a Ministerial Declaration signed by the members of the Southern Agricultural Council (CAS): Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which was immediately supported by Canada and the United States, reported the Secretariat of Government of Agroindustry of the Nation.
The Declaration notes that unjustified delays by some food importing countries in authorizing biotech products may lead to unnecessary complications in international agricultural trade and affect food security, in addition to slowing down technological innovation in the agro-industry of exporting countries where these products have already been assessed as safe.
In particular, it refers to situations of low-level presence (LLP) in shipments sent to these importing countries. To avoid these LLP situations, CAS countries consider that regulatory decisions must be based on transparent and internationally harmonised scientific criteria, and that joint work between countries is a key tool to address the issue.
The presentation of this Declaration to the international community constitutes a request for other countries to review their policies and consider adhering to the principles agreed upon in the CAS., in addition to expressing a commitment by its member countries to continue working together to ensure that the issue is resolved at the multilateral level.
The full text of the communication made by the Argentine Delegation to the WTO can be found at this link.
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