THE Food and Drug Administration (FDA) increased its staff last month to comply with new standards set by a food and drug safety agreement signed between ASEAN and China at a meeting in Nanning in October, said FDA director general Dr Kyaw Lin.

“We have expanded our staff from 50 to 120 to increase the efficiency of our activities as we pledged to do in signing the Nanning agreement,” he said.
The joint ministerial statement on food and drug safety was signed by the 10 ASEAN member countries and China on October 29 after two days of meetings.

According to the statement, the signatories agreed to increase communication, regulations and standards concerning food and drug safety with the aim of developing uniform laws for the sector throughout the region to promote trade in food and drug products while protecting consumer health.

The ministers also agreed to step up exchanges of food and drug safety personnel and technical experts.

ASEAN’s vice secretary general, Mr Nicholas T Dammen, said that developing countries like Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos would likely get increased technical assistance and training from China as a result of the agreement.

At the ASEAN summit in Singapore on November 20 an MOU on food and drug safety was also signed by ASEAN Secretary General Mr Ong Keng Yong and Mr Li Changjiang, the chief of China’s food and drug watchdog, the Administration for Quality, Standard and Inspection of Quarantine.