Freshfel Europe’s Export Division has elected Willem Baljeu of the Dutch trade association Frugi Venta as its new chairman. He will be assisted in his new function by Daniel Corbel of the French exporters’ association Aneefel, who was elected as the Division’s vice-chairman.

Baljeu succeeds Pino Calcagni (ANEIOA/Besana, Italy), who has taken up the role of vice-president of the association.

At the same meeting, Freshfel exporters and officials from DG Agriculture, DG Trade and DG Sanco of the European Commission discussed market access barriers for EU fruits and vegetables in third countries. The dialogue was a direct result of Freshfel’s continuous efforts to develop a positive ‘export agenda’ for fresh produce, including the publication of various reports on the difficulties faced by European exporters in accessing third country markets and recommendations to policy makers.

Overall, Freshfel’s arguments in favour of increased ‘reciprocity’ in market access conditions were well received by the Commission, which expressed its satisfaction with the ongoing cooperation between both organisations.

Calcagni said: “Freshfel Europe and the European Commission are now firmly committed to continue cooperating towards the development of a coherent and proactive export policy to assist traders in facing the many challenges of today’s exporting environment.”

Baljeu added that “exporters should be able to base their decisions upon commercial considerations and not upon problems of market accessibility. We are pleased to see that this point has been taken up by the European Commission”.

Freshfel intends to spearhead European export policy by creating European pavilions at foreign trade fairs, said Baljeu: “The creation of a European pavilion would provide EU exporters with a powerful instrument for the promotion of their products overseas. Its realisation will be one of the priorities of the work of the Division under my chairmanship,” he explained.

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