By IANS,
New Delhi : India had assured Japan that it will consult it before taking any decision on banning food imports from the quake-hit country.
This was conveyed by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao in her talks with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Kenichiro Sasae and Deputy Foreign Minister Koro Bessho in Tokyo Friday as part of regular foreign office discussions.
“The foreign secretary conveyed that the government of India had not yet taken a decision on banning Japanese food imports. India will consult Japan prior to taking a decision on the advisory issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India,” said a statement from the ministry of external affairs.
India’s health ministry had earlier issued an advisory to impose a fan on all food imports from Japan for a period of three months.
There was apprehension of radiation contamination due to the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, which had been damanged by the March 11 quake and tsunami.
Thereafter, the Indian commerce minsitry had announced that it will not be implementing the advisory.
A significant decision reached at the talks was the establishment of a trilateral dialogue between India, Japan and the US.
“These consultations, agreed to earlier by the US, will be conducted by the foreign ministries of the three countries,” the press statement said.