Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here on Thursday that the government is hopeful of the ban on the four Indian vegetables being lifted soon.
NEW DELHI: After lifting restrictions on import of mangoes, the government is expecting the European Commission to remove the ban on shipments of four vegetables — bitter gourd, brinjal, snake gourd and taro — from India soon.
Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here on Thursday that the government is hopeful of the ban on the four Indian vegetables being lifted soon. While the government is expecting early developments on this front, a decision from the EU will only come after an expert team of the commission's Food and Veterinary Office visits storage and other facilities for these veggies and certifies that basic standards with regard to health and hygiene are up to the mark. While the government did not specify any time span, the minister indicated that it would happen soon.
Lifting of the ban will cheer vegetable exporters to the European market who had to look at other foreign shores and the domestic market to sell their produce.
The ban was imposed last year, just ahead of the mango season, and was seen as a form of retaliation by the trading bloc to Indian food safety authority's decision to restrict shipment of some consignments of chocolates, wine and scotch as they did not meet the labelling requirements.
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