October 07, 2006	Saturday	Ramazan 13, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: The Mexican government has agreed to lift ban on import of all kinds of rice from Pakistan imposed around six years back, officials told Dawn.

The Mexican government had imposed the ban on the plea that the Pakistani rice carried a fungus named Kapra Beetle which was not suitable for consumption on health reasons.

Officials said the ban was levied on the basis of a report prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which mentioned the presence of the said fungus in Pakistani rice.

They said it was just a lame excuse because actually Mexico wanted to provide protection to its farmers, which is against the international trading norms.

Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Secretary M Ismail Qureshi confirmed to Dawn that the Mexican government had conveyed its willingness to move Pakistan from absolute quarantine list to partial quarantine list.

However, the Mexican government will do risk assessment in consultation with Minfal, he added.

Mr Qureshi said Pakistan and Mexico would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the conclusion of the upcoming Pak-Mexico Joint Ministerial Conference (JMC) to be started from October 12 in Mexican City.

A high-level delegation led by Minister of State for Economic Affairs Division Hina Rabbani Khar would discuss the issue among others.

Mexico is not a major market for Pakistani rice but it gives a wrong signal to the world market about the quality of our rice. We all know that Pakistan is major exporter of rice to the European Union member countries, especially the UK," the secretary remarked.