Union Agriculture Minister, Radha Mohan Singh met here today with Minister of Agriculture, Mrs. Sharon Dijksma of the Netherlands. Shri Singh extended warm welcome to the visiting Dutch delegation.Both Ministers expressed satisfaction over the pace of cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors between the two countries and also confirmed their readiness for greater collaboration and Trade between the two countries by meeting each other phyto sanitary standards to enhance market access in respect of identified fruits and vegetable and in developing centre of excellence in identified Indian States.
It was agreed that India would try to expedite market access for export of Apples and Pears from Netherlands by expediting phyto sanitary clearances by September, 2015 and 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. During the meeting a letter of extension of the Indo-Dutch Joint Agriculture Working Group action plan for cooperation in agriculture by 3 years w.e.f. 1.4.2015 was also signed by representatives from both countries. The Action plan covers cooperation in the field of Horticulture, research, food processing, plant varieties protection, animal husbandry and dairying etc.