China Market Open To Malaysian Bird's Nest Entrepreneurs

KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 (Bernama) - The China market is open to Malaysian bird's nest entrepreneurs wishing to export their products to the country, says Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Noh Omar. However, they must possess the Veterinary Health Mark (VHM) from Veterinary Services Department, Veterinary Health Certificate from the Health Ministry and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), a system to detect the origin of bird's nests. "The government imposed the three main conditions as proactive measure to ensure that products exported to China are of high quality," he told reporters after opening the 6th International Discus Show Malaysia 2012 here on Thursday. The conditions were to protect them from being caught in the smuggling of birds' nests adding the industry had to be assisted to prevent losses to all parties. Noh also denied a claim by 200 entrepreneurs in a Chinese newspaper recently that the export of bird's nest was monopolised by certain companies. "They can come to meet me and provide proof to back the claim. Only eight companies are allowed to do this activity based on the conditions imposed," he added. The 6th International Discus Show Malaysia 2012 is the world's largest with 290 entries from 18 countries including Japan, Germany, United States and Malaysia. --BERNAMA