Progress in China, Johanns says
Chinese technical team to travel to U.S. this fall.


July 12, 2005 — Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns announced yesterday that trade talks with China were progressing during a meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Beijing.

According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statement, Johanns encouraged China to lift its ban on U.S. beef and, in effect, adhere to internationally recognized bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) standards. As a result, the country has pledged it will send a team of technical experts to the U.S. in October in order to facilitate the timely reopening of their market. Meanwhile, Chinese representatives will work with USDA officials to provide more information on the timeline and process for reopening the border.

During the multilateral and bilateral meetings on agricultural trade and development, Secretary Johanns and Minister Li Changjiang of China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine reached an agreement on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to improve cooperation on animal and plant health and food safety.

“With this MOU, we will establish a vehicle to address the sanitary, phytosanitary and food safety issues that have hindered U.S. agriculture’s access to this important market,” Johanns stated in the release. “The MOU will provide a forum to seek resolution of bilateral technical food safety issues and promote scientific exchange to resolve technical barriers to trade, like meat, poultry and eggs and other food products under the regulatory authority of USDA.”

Johanns now travels with U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman to Dalian, China, as part of a 13-day odyssey to China and Africa in hopes of expanding market access and enhancing economic ties with trading partners. While in Dalian, Johanns will participate in a meeting with trade ministers from key members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition to the WTO meetings, he will also have bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea.

Throughout Johanns’ travels to China and later this week to Madagascar and Senegal, a travel log of his experiences is to be periodically posted to the USDA Web site at www.usda.gov.


— Information provided by USDA.