March 19, 2010

Norway signs aquaculture deal with India

Norway has entered into a ground breaking agreement with India, one of Asia's fastest growing fishing countries.

The deal is to cover areas such as aquaculture, where Norway is a renowned expert, and fisheries research and technology. The agreement has just been signed during Norway Foreign Minister Jonas Støre's official visit to New Delhi .

He said, "We have the long-term ambition that India will become a new, major market for Norwegian fish products. India is already among the ten largest producers of seafood in the world, and around half of its production is based on aquaculture."

"Norway has considerable competence within aquaculture, and India has a great potential within this sector," he added.

However, it is no secret that India has had its problems with some sectors of its export related seafood industry. The US Southern Shrimp Alliance, an organisation of eight southern states engaged in warm water prawn fishing recently appealed to the US Food and Drugs Administration to step up its testing of Indian seafood imports because they claimed that fish farms are using potentially harmful antibiotics and the EU is expected to increase its inspection of Indian aquaculture exports.

The EU continues to be the biggest export destination even during the current year, accounting for almost one-third of the volume and value of India's total seafood exports.