(openPR) - Tokyo: Japan announced the start of its journey towards global harmonization of Good Agricultural Practice. The announcement was made during a GAP National Conference held in Tokyo on 27/28 April 06. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Japan Good Agricultural Initiative (JGAI), Mr. Hisanobu Katayama, and Secretary EurepGAP, Dr. Kristian Moeller, signed a formal agreement, which lays the foundation for the Benchmarking process of JGAP to EurepGAP.
The signing was witnessed by Ms. Kyoto Sato from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan and by Dr. Seishi Ninomiya from the National Agricultural Research Center and applauded by the 300 delegates of the conference.

“We are committed to establish a strong partnership with EurepGAP in order to jointly promote the principles of Safe and Sustainable Agriculture in Japan and our neighboring countries”, said Mr. Ryuichi Tagami, Project Director of JGAP. “We think we hereby create a common ground also for a national harmonization process within Japan, which will reduce the current duplication of GAP standards and improve consumer confidence in food products.”

Claudia Meifert


EUREPGAP c/o FoodPLUS GmbH
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Tel: +49 (0) 2 21-5 79 93-25, Fax: -56
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The Global Partnership for Safe and Sustainable Agriculture