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Sep 24, 2015
In conjunction with President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington D.C this week, the U.S. and Chinese governments are holding a Strategic Agricultural Innovation Dialogue (SAID) meeting on Thursday.
The SAID meeting will hopefully set the stage for discussions regarding increased transparency and timeliness of Chinese biotech trait approvals. The American Soybean Association (ASA) and other groups are invited to participate in Thursday's meeting.
China is a key export market for U.S. soybeans, but the trade is at risk due to China’s restrictive regulatory approval procedures for biotech products.
ASA and other industry partners sent several letters to President Barack Obama throughout the past month, reiterating the importance of ensuring swift, positive action on pending biotechnology issues.
Goals include seeing China establish a transparent, predictable and practical approach to both biotechnology approvals and imports of grains and oilseeds that may contain crop biotechnology, in addition to obtaining a commitment from President Xi to advance the full queue of biotechnology products, including the seven currently awaiting final import approvals, and other products in or awaiting field trials.
ASA will have more information on the SAID meeting in next week’s eBean News.
