Hopes are high that New Zealand's suspension of Fijian agricultural exports will be lifted soon.
The Fijian government says the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries has acknowledged to Fijian authorities that its broad suspension of agricultural imports from Fiji is inappropriate and out of step with the Bilateral Quarantine Agreement and international standards, and has asked to meet with Fijian officials to resolve the issue.
In a letter to the NZ Ministry of Primary Industries, the Fijian government had objected to the suspension of trade of the four affected commodities: eggplants, breadfruit, mangoes and papaya.
In response, the New Zealand MPI has agreed that there have been no documented cases of a fruit fly outbreak caused by Fijian products.
Additionally, the Chief Technical Officer at the Ministry of Primary Industries, Dr. Stephen Butcher, has requested a meeting with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji.
Minister for Public Enterprises, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the meeting will be held in Fiji this week, and Fiji will make a formal request for the suspension to be lifted.
Sayed-Khaiyum says given Fiji's stringent adherence to international biosecurity standards for both imports and exports, they have every reason to believe that this matter will be settled quickly and that the suspended Fijian produce will be once again on its way to New Zealand.
The Minister pointed out that Fiji imports a wide variety of agricultural products from New Zealand and those products occasionally do not meet Fiji's import requirements.
He says Fiji has maintained a flexible posture to account for occasional anomalies in New Zealand's treatment of its produce as long as those anomalies fall within a tolerable range.
The New Zealand authorities have asked the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji to undertake an audit of the Nature's Way Cooperatives high‑temperature forced‑air facility and pathway certification to meet all requirements.
New Zealand has raised concerns with regards to the lack of repair and maintenance of the facility.
New Zealand MPI says fortunately, no fruit flies have been detected in New Zealand on consignments of fresh produce exported from Fiji.
They say they have been working with Fijian authorities to resolve an issue regarding export certification of consignments that have received heat treatment to manage risk from fruit flies present in Fiji.
MPI sets the minimum temperature and time requirements that fruit must be subjected to in order to be confident that any fruit flies present are killed.
MPI recently temporarily suspended the heat treatment pathway for Fijian fresh produce exports until the certification issue is resolved.
MPI relies on Biosecurity Authority of Fiji to closely monitor and evaluate the outcome of the biosecurity treatment to ensure that these minimum requirements have been met.
This has not occurred in some cases and has affected NZ MPI's confidence in the certification from Fiji.
They expect this issue to be resolved very soon.
