Turkish Agriculture & Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker has said that after the food chapter was opened in Turkey’s EU membership negotiations, Turkey’s eastern border had become EU’s eastern border in terms of quality, standard, food and hygiene, Anadolu Agency reported.
It means that EU’s eastern border is now with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria, said Eker who spoke at a meeting on “public-non-governmental organizations cooperation in Turkey-EU membership process” on Tuesday.
The meeting, which took place at Swiss Hotel in Ankara, focused on food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policies.
Eker recalled that “food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy” chapter was opened to negotiations on June 30, 2010 in Turkey’s EU membership talks, adding that the chapter covered a large area.
Eker noted that the food issue concerned everybody including producers, consumers, manufacturers and industrialists, adding that the arrangement on food issue was in fact an arrangement on living standards.
He said that the food standards in Turkey would be the same as in EU countries.
Eker said that Veterinary Services, Phytosanitary, Food and Feed Law was adopted in Turkey, and it went into effect on December 13, 2010. He added that they needed cooperation of all parts of society, institutions and organizations in adopting secondary regulations in the process.
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