Free movement the ‘ultimate goal’
But the Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan said this should, of course, be subject to EU rules and the development of agreed policies to control animal disease and facilitate trade.
She was speaking following a meeting at Stormont with her northern counterpart, Under Secretary of State Ian Pearson.
Minister Coughlan said they had noted the progress made to this objective and agreed that the next stage should be to seek further input from stakeholders. Their officials will take this forward with the relevant interests.
The Ministers also discussed issues relating to implementation of the Single Farm Payment Scheme and cross-compliance.
While recognising the enormity of the task in hand, she said they noted the good progress made in putting the new regime in place, both north and south.
Progress in areas such as plant health, crop variety testing, organic farming and forestry was also noted.
Minister Coughlan said the meeting was very useful. A range of issues common to the agriculture industries and food sector, both north and south, was discussed.
She said she reviewed progress with Mr Pearson towards the development of a coordinated animal health strategy and highlighted the main achievements to date.
These include the development of complementary approaches to combat the introduction of animal diseases and strengthening of coordination and cooperation on issues such as contingency planning.
