The Netherlands to help India for lifting EU ban on vegetable imports

NEW DELHI: The Netherlands will help India in its efforts towards getting the EU ban lifted on imports of certain vegetables, the Agriculture Ministry said today.

The Netherlands Agriculture Minister Sharon Dijksma today called on her Indian counterpart Radha Mohan Singh and discussed the agriculture and allied sectors.

Both Ministers expressed satisfaction over pace of cooperation between the two countries in agriculture. The representatives of two countries also signed a letter of extension of the Indo-Dutch joint agriculture working group for cooperation in agriculture for 3 years, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

"...the Netherlands would try to help in efforts to lift the EU ban on certain Indian vegetables and with market access to the European Union (EU), generally," the statement added.

During the meeting, it was also agreed that India would try to expedite market access for export of Apples and Pears from Netherlands by expediting phyto sanitary clearances by September this year, it said.

In May 2014, the European Commission had imposed a ban on imports of bitter gourd, egg plant, snake gourd and taro leaves from India on grounds of interceptions of harmful organisms leading to fears on account of bio-security of the region.