To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to outline how her Department is supporting local agri-food businesses in pursuing new markets.

I am committed to opening as many new export markets for our high quality agri-food produce as possible. I visited China for a third time this year to progress trade negotiations on a range of products. My officials visited the Philippines and South Africa for the same purpose. We have recently agreed terms to trade beef with Canada. We are preparing for a range of trade inspections in early 2016 with the aim of accessing both the Australian pork market as well as the US and Philippine beef markets.

Maintaining and improving our animal health status is also vital to securing trade opportunities. On 6 October 2015, the north of Ireland secured formal recognition of Officially Brucellosis Free (OBF) status from the European Commission. This is excellent news, representing a major achievement for our cattle industry and will allow us to continue to roll out progressive and proportionate reductions in our routine surveillance testing, generating savings for both industry and taxpayers.

We have a robust EU Commission approved TB eradication programme in place. This TB eradication programme continues to be a priority to ensure continued access to the export trade by our livestock and livestock products industry, which is worth over £1 billion per year. Looking ahead, I established the TB Strategic Partnership Group (TBSPG) last year to develop a long term TB eradication strategy and implementation action plan. The TBSPG has made significant progress, resulting with the completion of their interim report during the summer. I look forward to seeing the TBSPG final TB Eradication Strategy and Implementation Action Plan in due course.

My Department also sponsors the Regional Food Programme.

Finally, our Livestock and Meat Commission aims to increase red meat consumption in the domestic market.