May I inform you that the Import Risk Analysis (IRA) relevant to the negotiations for the export of Philippine banana to Australia is now on its later stages of public consultation.   The revised draft IRA was released on February 2004.   But the Biosecurity Australia (BA) announced that a further revised draft IRA will be issued once all the comments from stakeholders were received and evaluated.

The Philippines, in all the IRA reports issued by BA, provided scientific comments and stressed its position that Philippine banana will meet Australian standards.   Both Australia and the Philippines expressed their intention to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion that is based on science.

To further the negotiation, the Australian Government sent its BA team on December 1-3, 2004 to the Philippines to meet with the Department of Agriculture and the stakeholders in the banana industry.   The visit also discussed the recent changes in the BA and how it will strengthen the IRA process.   Various technical issues were discussed during the meeting.   The Philippines and Australia agree that the new technical matters discussed will help in the conduct of the IRA.

The Philippines hopes that the mater will be resolved bilaterally and in favor of the Philippine Government.  The Philippines looks forward to the release of the final IRA within reasonable time. END
 
 

/jay