The first technical assistance mission of the European Union (EU) to strengthen the capacity of the Guinean authorities that carry out the control and certification of fishery products began this Monday in Bissau.
This first technical assistance mission in the field of the Taiex instrument aims to strengthen the technical capacity of the services of the competent authorities that carry out the official control of fishery products and the certification of the export of products”, said the ambassador. of the European Union Union, Sónia Nieta.
Taiex is a technical assistance instrument of the European Commission and supports countries that intend to export products to the EU to know, apply and comply with EU legislation.
The ambassador was speaking at the end of a visit to the fishing port of Alto Bandim.
According to the diplomat, during the mission issues such as “conditions for importing fish into the European Union, introduction to legal, unreported and unregulated fishing, landing conditions, transport, sampling, inspection and certification” will be addressed.
Sónia Neto, who held her last official act as ambassador of the European Union on Monday, said that “other technical assistance missions to the National Fisheries Laboratory” have already been defined for the near future.
This is, therefore, a clear example of how the Europa Team can be on the side of the national authorities, in their implementation of the National Fisheries Policy”, he stressed.
The last fishing agreement between the European Union and Guinea-Bissau was signed in 2018, after six rounds of negotiations that lasted more than a year. The agreement, with a duration of five years, established the payment by the EU to Guinea-Bissau of 15.6 million euros per year.
In the previous agreement, which expired in November 2017, Bissau received 9.5 million euros per year for European boats fishing in its waters.
According to the new agreement, of the 15.6 million euros per year, 11.6 million will go to the General Budget of the Guinean State and the remaining 4 million to support fishing infrastructure, water monitoring and research.
The agreement between the EU and Guinea-Bissau, signed in 2007, allows vessels from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and France to fish in Guinean waters for tuna, cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish), shrimp and demersal species (sole and mere).
We are aware that this sector is a strategic national priority so that the Government can boost the economy, providing the country with research infrastructure, in the fishing sector, with international standards, as a way to ensure that this sector can be boosted in terms of contribution for the economy of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau”, said the ambassador.
Source: Observadora
