Jakarta. Indonesia is currently in the process of harmonizing its fishery quality assurance system with that of Vietnam, South Korea, and Norway as means to boost exports.

The Marine and Fisheries Quality Assurance Agency of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Indonesia -- also known by its acronym MFQAA -- revealed Indonesia recently had bilateral talks with the said three countries. 

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA) and the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) also visited Jakarta last month. 

According to the Director General (Acting) of MFQAA, Ishartini,  the meeting zeroed in on trial runs for e-certificates related to fishery exports. The two countries are planning to exchange information via the respective data pools of the Indonesian National Single Window Agency (LNSW) and NFSA. This plan is also considered as the follow-up cooperation action plan between Indonesia and Norway as agreed in the technical arrangement agreement signed in Bergen in September last year. During the meeting, both countries also talked of twinning laboratory programs to ensure the quality and safety of the fishery products.

“So Indonesia proposed the possibility of facilitating the promotion of Indonesian fishery products at the EFTA [European Free Trade Association] and the European Union [EFTA], and the facilitation of pre-border inspection activities [Norway] at least twice a year,” Ishartini said.

Indonesia and Vietnam have also agreed to extend their cooperation on the mutual recognition of the country’s quality and safety assurance system for marine and fishery products. This deal helps increase the possibility of Indonesian products being accepted in Vietnam and vice versa.

Indonesia’s MFQAA is also currently in talks with South Korea regarding the inspection plans by the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service (NFQS). According to Ishartini, the NFQS will inspect a number of fish processing units this August. The two agencies have also agreed to update information and discuss the bilateral export-import procedures.

“We have to work together and prepare well to make sure the fishery processing units have consistently embraced the quality and safety management systems,” Ishartini said, while adding the inspection results would reflect the units’ performance and eventually affect South Korea’s acceptance towards Indonesian fishery products.

In 2023, Indonesia exported 4.9 million kilograms of fishery products --worth approximately $189 million to Vietnam. Fishery exports to South Korea totaled 27.2 kilograms and were worth $100 million that year. The government also reported that Indonesian fishery products exports to Norway reached 4,555 kilograms or around $61,990 throughout last year.

Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono is aiming to export $7.2 billion worth of fishery products throughout 2024. About 99 percent of Indonesian fishery products get accepted in export destinations.