<p>Minister, Chairman of the Government Office, Mai Tiến DÅ©ng, urged the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to simplify quality control procedures to facilitate imports and exports. Speaking at a working session this week, DÅ©ng said that the ministry had achieved significant results in administrative reforms, but overlaps in management persisted and some procedures remained complicated, hindering the circulation of goods.</p> <p>DÅ©ng said that while some agricultural products needed to be checked by more than one department under the ministry, there was still a lot of duplication of checks by several ministries. For example, milk powder, animal feed and confectionary raw materials received food safety checks from MARD and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).</p> <p>DÅ©ng said that quality checks still accounted for 72 per cent of the total time for customs clearance, and added that further efforts were needed to simplify procedures to speed up the process. “What can be removed, should be removed. What must be kept, should be simplified,” DÅ©ng said and stressed on the need for early issuance of national standards to guide efficient checks. The ministry planned to connect 26 administrative procedures to the national single window system. To date, 11 procedures have been connected. Deputy Minister of MARD, Hà Công Tuấn, said that the ministry would continue to check 508 existing administrative procedures and was expected to cut or simplify half of them. In addition, the ministry would also reduce the categories of products, which must be checked before export, while implementing a risk-based management approach. For products, which are now subjected to duplicated checks by MARD, MoIT and the Ministry of Health, Tuấn said that the ministry would propose to the Government to hold just one ministry responsible.</p> <p><strong>Exports touch $30 billion</strong></p> <p>Latest updates from the MARD showed that the agro-fishery-forestry export revenue was estimated to reach US$29.76 billion, representing a rise of 12.7 per cent over the same period last year. Major agricultural products of Việt Nam saw a significant increase in exports in the ten-month period. Rice export was estimated at more than 5 million tonnes, worth $2.25 billion, rising by 22.3 per cent in volume and 21.1 per cent in value. However, the average rice export price saw a slight decrease by 1.6 per cent to $442.3 per tonne.</p> <p>Rubber export posted a whopping rise of 40.6 per cent in value to reach a revenue of $1.77 billion. Cashew export increased by 23.1 per cent to reach $2.87 billion. Exports of fruits and vegetables were positive, with an increase of 41.2 per cent over the same period last year to touch $2.84 billion. The export value of coffee, however, fell by 2.5 per cent over the same period last year to $2.69 billion due to a drop of 23 per cent in export volume, although its average export price rose by 28.5 per cent. Pepper also saw a drop by 21 per cent in export value to $1.02 billion, despite a rise of 20.7 per cent in export volume. From January to October, Việt Nam imported $22.93 billion worth of agri-fishery-forestry products, up by 14.3 per cent. — VNS</p>