The Malaysian Embassy in China sees a strong possibility of Malaysia getting the approval for its raw-unclean (RUC) swiftlet edible bird’s nests and fresh durian, especially the ‘Musang King’, to enter China starting the middle of this year.
Ambassador to China, Datuk Zainuddin Yahya, said the export approval for RUC bird’s nest and the whole fruit durian could take place by mid-2018 and by the second half of the year, respectively.
“I am optimistic, given the commitments shown by both sides (China and Malaysia),” he told Bernama on the sidelines of Malaysia Bird’s Nest Festival 2018 (MBNF 2018) held here, recently.
Nanning is the capital of the Guangxi region. Zainuddin, who led the Malaysian delegation for the technical meeting with the Chinese authorities on March 12, said he received positive response.
“The message from the Chinese side is clear. They attest to a lot of importance to our request.
“They are forthcoming in helping Malaysia export the RUC edible bird’s nest and the whole fruit durians.
I hope the Malaysian side would take appropriate action to meet some of the (technical) requests from the Chinese side,” he said.
The ambassador said it was his personal wish that Malaysia would be able to export both products this year, and would do his best to ensure the completion of the mission before his retirement early next year.
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Vice Governor, Huang Weijing, in his speech at the opening of MBNF 2018, said the communication and cooperation between Guangxi and Malaysia in various fields, such as economy and trade, culture, had been developed in recent years.
“In 2017, the volume of trade between Guangxi and Malaysia was 4.86 billion renminbi, an increase of 55.9 per cent.
“Malaysia has become Guangxi’s top largest investment destination, also the sixth largest contract project market in Asean,” he said.
Weijing said MBNF 2018 further deepened the economy and trade cooperation between the two sides and embodied the important place of Guangxi in the industrial cooperation between China and Malaysia.
“By hosting this festival, we will bring Malaysia’s truly high-quality bird’s nest and bird’s nest products to Nanning citizens,” he added.
The three-day MBNF 2018, which ended on Sunday, was an initiative by Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry to use it as an avenue to create awareness among consumers in China on the range of edible bird’s nest products from Malaysia.
Edible bird’s nest, also known as “yan wo” in Chinese, is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine for more than 500 years since the Ming Dynasty due to its high nutritional values in terms of protein and minerals.
Weijing said the Malaysia Durian Festival 2017, held here last November, was a success.
“It made a positive contributions to deepen the agricultural cooperation between Guangxi and Malaysia, and promoted the agricultural trade between the two sides,” he said.
Source: Daily Express