The lifting in June of the EU ban on UAE exports, imposed since 1998, owes much to steadfast lobbying from International Fish Farming Company (Asmak).
Asmak worked closely with the UAE government to outline for the local fisheries industry health and hygiene standards in line with EU standards.
"From the outset Asmak, in coordination with the authorities in the respective emirates, took on the task of assisting with legislation, policy framing and monitoring as well as putting European standards and regulations within a new UAE legal framework that ultimately received acceptance from the EU," said Asmak senior manager Dr Abdul Hamid Aboufayed.
Asmak worked in conjunction with the GSM and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in developing and introducing a system of inspection and control that met the conditions described in the European Council Directive 91/493/EEC on Health conditions. For aquaculture products, the company helped to put in place a system of residue controls and monitoring that were similar to those described in Council Regulation 2377/90/EEC and Council Directive 96/23/EC.
Two dossiers covering these systems were developed and new legislation issued to govern these systems was sent to the Department of General Health & Consumer Protection in the European Commission late last year. The efforts resulted in the EU's granting approval to both dossiers, effectively lifting the ban on exports of UAE fisheries and aquaculture products to the European Union.
The European Hygiene regulations, which the EU had insisted be followed for permission for exports to the member states, are based on the HACCP (Hazardous Analytical Critical Control Point) system.
Asmak had hired a European expert for consulting on the approval application.
Good scope is seen for exports to the EU as 60 per cent of the fisheries products consumed comes from outside the EU.
Asmak expects to gain much from the rescinding of the ban. "The types of fish Asmak grows in its farms are very popular on the European consumption list, and since the epidemic of mad cow disease, the European population has turned to fish consumption, raising demand for fish," said Aboufayed.
"Lifting the ban of exporting fisheries products to the EU is a great achievement for the country as a whole and an excellent opportunity for Asmak to move towards big profits."
