Brasília, March 19, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Brazil will be able to begin the sales of fresh beef to the United States by the end of the year, according to the executive secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Amauri Dimarzio, who participated, yesterday (18), in the first meeting of the Brazil-United States Agricultural Advisory Committee (CCA).

Dimarzio revealed that, by May, after completing a quantitative assessment of risk, the United States should approve the sanitary requirements for the importation of Brazilian beef.

Brazil also intends to expand its exports of other products, such as melons, watermelons, squash, figs, carambolas, pomegranates, and yams, to the American market.

Technical personnel from the Ministry and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) met in Brasília to formulate proposals of mutual interest involving sanitary questions (human, animal, and plant), technical training, and trade.

According to Dimarzio, Brazil and the United States, the biggest producers and consumers of ethanol, also intend to facilitate commercial exchanges of this biofuel.

The next meeting of the CCA should take place next year.

Translator: David Silberstein