On 24th June 2022 at the President Hotel, Battambang, the General Directorate of Agriculture (GDA) in collaboration with the project “Support of Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia” (SRECA) implemented by GIZ held the “Dissemination Workshop on Phytosanitary Requirements for Export of Fresh Longan from Cambodia to China”. The workshop was organised to raise the awareness of growers, processors, exporters, and relevant stakeholders who participated in the workshop regarding phytosanitary requirements and other specific regulations for the export of fresh longan from Cambodia to China.
GDA highlighted the importance of the event because the protocol on phytosanitary measures for the export of fresh longan from Cambodia to China was just signed on 16 March 2022 between the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) and the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). According to the procedure, farm owners, packinghouses, exporters and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who wish to export longan from Cambodia to China need to register with GDA. All applicants need to adhere to regulations and standards as in the phytosanitary protocol. GDA will send the list of registered farms and packinghouses to GACC for assessment to get the approval for official export.
SRECA cooperates closely with MAFF-GDA since 2017. Among other agricultural trade related services, both partners have established multiple fresh fruit specific export guidelines for Cambodian SMEs to facilitate access to the Chinese market. Among those, the recently updated export guideline for longan was disseminated at the workshop. The documents are available in both Khmer and English. Relevant stakeholders can access the documents from the website of SRECA and GDA. The guidelines are currently being transferred into Khmer e-learning courses that will be available for free for anyone interested in the topic.