Laos, China firms to cooperate to remove cattle export barriers

Three Lao and Chinese firms will work together to find solutions to barriers impeding cattle exports to the Chinese market and to develop the beef export industry in Laos.

Mr Norman Lee (on the extreme right), Mrs Khonesavanh Sengvilay and Mr Cheng He sign the MoU in Vientiane.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperation in this context was signed in Vientiane yesterday by the Director of the Intergrated Agricultural Joint Venture Co Ltd of Laos, Mrs Khonesavanh Sengvilay, the President of Tianjin Ringpu Biotechnology Co Ltd of China, Mr Norman Lee, and Mr Cheng He, a representative of the Sino-ASEAN Innovative Academy of Major Animal Disease Control in Beijing.
The signing of the document was witnessed by the Deputy Director General of the General Logistics Department of the Ministry of National Defense of Laos, Brigadier General Chandy Sourivongsack.
This project is part of efforts to promote the Belt and Road Initiative. An Agreement on Veterinary Inspection of livestock exports from Laos to China was finalised on February 10, 2021 between the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Laos and the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC).As part of their collaborative efforts, the three parties will provide technologies for artificial genetic modification and fattening of livestock. The body weight of livestock will match the requirements for exports to China.
The parties will establish technical standards for large-scale healthy breeding of livestock and a system that will contribute to poverty alleviation among farmers in Laos. They will create a protocol for major animal disease prevention and control and implement it by promoting key vaccines, drugs and diagnostic technologies. The final products will meet the requirements of GACC.
The parties will also create hygiene requirements and meet quarantine standards for exports to China. They will make efforts to ensure efficacy for livestock exports to the Chinese market, including the accreditation and inspection of slaughtering facilities.
They will implement training programmes to upgrade the standards of the livestock industry, and also develop a joint venture as a three-party cooperation entity in order to implement the above perspectives.
The signing of the MOUis meant to facilitate the development of a genuine and mutually beneficial cooperative relationship among the three parties.
The activities to be conducted within the new framework are outlined in the MOU. These activities will be conducted after consultations among the three parties or their management divisions, and will be detailed in separate written agreements based on the principle of mutual recognition and the benefit of cooperation outcomes of the relationship. The operation and management of the MOU will comply with the laws and regulations of Laos.  Each of the three parties will designate a coordinator to implement the framework of the MOU, which will be valid for two years. During the validity period, the three parties will sign a separate cooperation agreement. Amendments, renewal and termination of the MOU must be agreed in writing and signed by the authorised representatives of the three parties.
China has granted Laos a huge quota for exporting 500,000 heads of cattle under an agreement signed by the governments of the two countries. Last year, Laos sold more than 2,000 head of cattle to China but trade was put on hold after an outbreak of lumpy skin disease, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

By Time Reporters
(Latest Update September 22, 2022)