The federal government is hiring a specialist to help Canadian farmers and exporters tackle Mexico’s bureaucratic maze.
Agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief told a May 15 news conference from Mexico City that he had complained to Mexican agriculture minister Javier Usabiago Arroyo about unilateral border paperwork changes that create problems for Canadian imports.
He said Canada will hire a “border clearance specialist” to educate Canadians who want to export to Mexico.
The specialist will be stationed at a trading point on the Mexico-United States border to help Canadian goods get into the Mexican market.
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“We see a need for continual education of the industry,” said Vanclief.
“If we can do collectively continuing education for shippers on the requirements for paperwork, there will be fewer surprises.”
Changing import rules continually frustrate Canadians trying to export food to Mexico.
The country has banned Maritime seed potatoes for the past half year, citing disease fears that Canada says are unfounded.
There have also been battles over hurdles for apples and beans.
Vanclief said he thought two days of meetings had resulted in progress.
Mexican authorities want to find an agreement to solve the problem, he added.
Even with the trade irritants, the two-way food trade between Canada and Mexico was worth more than $1 billion last year and Vanclief said there is potential for growth.
Vanclief visited a frozen food plant that McCains operates near Mexico City. He said Mexico imports more than 30 million pounds of potatoes from Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick.
The minister also spoke at a promotion organized May 15 by Canadian pork and beef exporters. With sales of 55,000 tonnes of beef and 50,000 tonnes of pork, Canada is the second largest meat exporter to Mexico.
Vanclief said there is a clear opportunity to increase sales of canola, grain and other Canadian products to Mexico, and Mexican fruits and vegetables to Canada.
