By Atuna

The ambassador of Mauritius, Mr. Sutiawan Gunessee, declared in a statement that all the country’s fishery products exports are fully compliant with the European Union (EU) norms and standards.

During the mission of the Food and Veterinary Office (VFO) of the European Commission (EC) in February 2008, several shortcomings were identified and the official report released by the Commission stated that “The official controls set in place by the Mauritian competent authorities cannot be considered as providing guarantees at least equivalent to Community requirements”.

However, according to Mr. Gunessee, the Mauritian authorities immediately adopted the required corrective measures to reinforce control and supervision, being the Competent Authorities still capable to certify consignments of fishery products.

Mr. Gunessee also added: “Out of the five establishments that were de-listed on May 23rd 2008, the EC has informed, on October 1st 2008, of its decision to approve again exports of products from one of them. (…) All the shortcomings that were identified by the FVO mission have already been effectively redressed to the full satisfaction of the EC services”.

The official statement affirmed that recruitment of more qualified personnel has been made to meet the standards of the EU at the Mauritian Competent Authority level.