Recently, the Catfish 2007 Vietnam International Technical and Trade Conference was held in HCMC gathering many of the world’s fisheries experts to discuss the industry’s prospects and update necessary information on production technologies, trading and export policies.
In the conference, Mr. Luong Le Phuong, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Aquaculture and Mr. Juan Carlos Martin Fragueiro, Secretary General of the Spanish Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, signed a memorandum committing to corporate in developing the two countries’ fisheries. Accordingly, Viet Nam and Spain will corporate in fisheries management including production development, trading and technology transfer.
According to Mr. Phuong, the conference is a great opportunity for Vietnamese catfish producers to have a closer look at the world’s catfish market. Provided with useful information on the world’s catfish production, market, demand trends and latest technologies for catfish processing, Vietnamese producers will have more favorable conditions to draw up new production plans for future.
Viet Nam has been seeing its catfish industry growing with great speed, however, if the country wants to create a stable market, they should pay more attention to environmental related issues, quality and safety standards and other problems, Ms Kjersti Gravingen, Manager of Pharmaq Asia said.
Over 22 reputable speakers from all over the world have come to the conference to discuss the catfish industry. The participants include Ms. Kjersti Gravningen from Denmark, the leading country in salmon production, Mr. Pete Redmayne, President of the US Seafare Corporation, Mr. Mathew Fass, President of the US Maritime Product International and other catfish experts.
The Catfish 2007 Vietnam International Technical and Trade Conference was a result of the coordination between the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and the INFOFISH, a branch of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
