Secretary-General for Agriculture and Food points out that United Kingdom will be a third country as of January

In his speech, Fernando Miranda stressed the importance of providing all the information necessary to the agri-food sector on the new scenario resulting from Brexit for agri-food trade relations with the United Kingdom.

Whether an agreement is reached or not, he stated, the United Kingdom will be a third country for all intents and purposes as from 1 January 2021, such that Spanish exports will be subject to customs formalities, and hence companies must familiarise themselves with these so as to minimise the impact on their exchanges.

At any event, the Secretary-General for Agriculture recalled that the negotiating teams of the United Kingdom and of the European Union remain in talks, and hence a window of opportunity is still open to reach an agreement that allows close trading relations to be maintained with the United Kingdom whereby exports can be made under more advantageous conditions than those of competitor third countries. This would avoid having to base new trading relations on the basic rules of the World Trade Organization.

The organisation of this workshop by the Spanish Federation of Food and Drink Industries (Spanish acronym: FIAB) is complementary to the work being carried out by the government to provide information on Brexit for sector companies through the actions carried out by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Non official translation