Canberra is now reviewing the documents submitted by Manila to resolve the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) concerns of Australia in importing Philippines’ Cavendish bananas.

After more than two decades of barring Philippine bananas, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Steven J. Robinson said Canberra is pushing hard to facilitate the entry of the tropical fruit as technical work over plant health issues has made some progress.

“We’ve got progress. The great thing about all of these is that we have moved from wher we were at the end of last year, wher there was no progress, to a situation wher we are now moving things forward,” Robinson said.

Australia’s new envoy to the Philippines said he committed to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol and Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III to facilitate the reopening of the Australian market for Philippine bananas.  “We are moving things and we hope to come to a positive resolution.”

It is reported that the November bilateral talks between Canberra and Manila yielded “positive results” in terms of the Philippines’s bid to re-access the Australian market for bananas, which has been closed for more than two decades.