Business news

MINSK, 12 July (BelTA) – Belarus intends to sell beef and poultry meat to the United Arab Emirates. The statement was made by Belarusian Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister Igor Brylo after negotiations with Director General of the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA) Abdulla Al Maeeni on 12 July, BelTA has learned.

Igor Brylo said: “Belarus intends to sell dairy products, beef, and poultry meat to the UAE. Getting our producers certified is the first step. We are interested not only in the UAE market but sales to Middle East, African, and Asian countries via the UAE. The United Arab Emirates is a major logistics hub. But in order to penetrate this market, Belarusian companies have to go through all the certification and veterinary control steps.”

Belarus and the UAE have signed an agreement on the mutual recognition of veterinary certificates for milk and dairy products, meat and meat products, honey, and a broad range of ready-made foods. OOO BelHalal Company has started the accreditation process in the UAE. Once it is over, the certificates issued by OOO BelHalal will be recognized as valid in the UAE. Belarusian companies have to get certified in order to be able to sell food to the UAE. “It will be done step by step. First, we intend to get major Belarusian companies with a broad choice of products certified. The initial list of companies slated for certification includes about 20 dairy and meat producers,” noted the deputy agriculture and food minister.

Abdulla Al Maeeni praised the quality of Belarusian foods. “The main purpose of our visit to Belarus is to remove trade barriers and enable sales of Belarusian products in the UAE. We would like to get the certification out of the way before the Gulfood expo in Dubai in February 2019 so that we could discuss ways to increase Belarus-UAE trade,” he added.

Enterprises accountable to the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry exported $567,100 worth of products to the UAE in 2017. The figure was $150,000 in January-May 2018. The Belarusian exporters included Smorgon Milk Products, Savushkin Product, Bellakt, Lida Milk Plant, Complimilk, and Turov Dairy Industrial Complex.