December 22, 2005

Vietnam to promote tuna fish exports to EU and Japan

Vietnam's Ministry of Fisheries has approved a project on developing a trade promotion strategy for the fisheries sector and promoting Vietnamese tuna fish exports to the EU and Japan.

The project would study and gather information on trade promotion activities in domestic and foreign markets. A plan would then be drawn up to promote tuna exported to the EU and Japan between 2006 and 2010, Deputy Minister of Fisheries Nguyen Thi Hong Minh said.

She added that based on the study and tuna promotion, the project would help develop a trade promotion strategy for the fisheries sector from 2006 to 2015.

Minh said the ministry planned to allocate VND6.9 billion (about US$434,000) for the project, which would be carried out across the country by late 2007.

After the project's completion, information on Vietnam's tuna production, processing and export would be reported. A report would also be made on how well domestic tuna production and processing adhered to international hygiene and food safety standards.

Solutions would then be proposed for problems related to production and processing of aquatic products for export, including tuna. A plan to promote Vietnamese tuna exports would also be drawn up.