Taiwan and Canada have signed letters for an organic equivalence arrangement that took effect on May 30, the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei said on Facebook yesterday.
The letters were signed and exchanged between Lyzette Lamondin, executive director of food safety and consumer protection for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Hu Jong-i (胡忠一) on May 27, it said.
According to an overview posted on the official Web site of the Government of Canada, “the recognitions apply to agricultural products of plant origin, and processed foods of plant origin, livestock and livestock products, as well as aquaculture products grown or produced in each jurisdiction or whose final processing or packaging occurs within each jurisdiction.”
The accord allows organic products certified in Taiwan or Canada to be sold as organic in either market.
Information from the Agriculture and Food Agency shows that Canada is Taiwan’s second-largest source of imports for organic products, after the US.
On Thursday last week, Taiwan and the US also signed an organic equivalence arrangement, which according to the Agriculture and Food Agency, was the fifth such deal reached, after Japan, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
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