The United States of America may acknowledge that Hungary is free of Swine Fever by summer 2012, which in turn may boost Hungarian agricultural exports to across the Atlantic – Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas told the Hungarian news agency MTI in Washington, following talks with leaders of the American Department of Agriculture on Wednesday.

"Hungary is free of swine flu, but is still categorised among a group of countries from which exports of certain products to the United States is prohibited as a result" – said Sándor Fazekas, who together with State Secretary Zoltán Illés held discussions with among others Max Holtzman, Acting Deputy Under Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

"Our prospects are good, Mr Holtzman also indicated, that he hopes a concrete decision will be made on the issue by summer 201" – said the Minister.

According to Sándor Fazekas, the restrictions include meat products of which Hungary exports large quantities to such demanding, high quality markets as for example Sweden. Inclusion on the list of countries with swine fever prevents the export of salamis, smoked hams, frozen pork, live animals and semen, and for this reason, Mangalica pigs and pork products may also not be shipped to the United States.

"Our primary goal is to increase exports to the Unites States, which in turn will help us develop animal husbandry further in Hungary. We have competitive products in this area. However, administrative barriers can often prevent exports altogether" – stated the Minister of Rural Development, who also reminded those present that for the moment only the high quality products of the Pápai Hús and Pick Szeged corporations are available on the American market.

The Minister pointed out that in the United States Hungary is not listed correctly in the "free from" category with regard to certain diseases of poultry, which prevents, among others, the export of goose liver. Sándor Fazekas also told the press, than parallel to the government delegation, István Kiss, CEO of the Tokaj Kereskedőház Corporation, had held talks in Washington regarding opportunities for the export of Hungarian wines.

"Our goal is to export a whole group of premium products to the United States, in addition to the salamis and sausages; this is no easy task, but similar results have been achieved by many others." – said Sándor Fazekas. The Minister pointed out that the export capacit yof Hungarian agriculture would be enough to supply 2-3 million people, so the goal is not for Hungarian agricultural products to appear on the shelves in all fifty States. "We need to import higher price category, quality products here, which are worth distributing in cities with the highest purchasing power" – said the Minister.

According to Sándor Fazekas's report, his counterparts at the meetings accepted the fact that Hungary had declared itself GMO-free in its new Constitution. They asked for information on the several hectares of GMO-contaminated land discovered by authorities earlier this year, and on the relative regulations. "I am confident that we will not encounter similar problems next year, because the regulations are now well known, farmers have had enough time to conform to them, and everyone is now more cautious with regard to GMOs" – said the Minister for Rural Development.

The leaders of the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development's talks in Washington also touched on various elements of the American administrative system for agricultural support that could also be implemented in Hungary, the calculability of agricultural production, risk insurance, and the handling of agricultural market price fluctuations, as well as the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy.

(MTI, Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)