Business news

MINSK, 25 April (BelTA) – Belarus plans to keep the volume of its dairy supplies to Russia at the level of 2017, BelTA learned from Sergei Rakhmanov, the chairman of the Council of the Republic’s permanent commission on international affairs and national security.

Regular negotiations at an expert level with the Russian Ministry of Agriculture took place as part of a videoconference on 24 April with the participation of representatives of the Russian embassy in Belarus. At the meeting, Belarus laid out its vision of the problem in the dairy market of the two countries. “The information presented demonstrated the inconsistency of allegations of Belarusian milk producers’ dumping attempts on the Russian market. The talks helped the parties understand the need to improve the dairy export accounting system, monitor pricing, take measures to provide the dairy market of the Union State primarily with the products of Russian and Belarusian producers. Russia’s proposal to develop a mechanism to regulate and control the common dairy market will be considered by Belarus in detail. Besides, Belarus insists on maintaining the volumes of dairy supplies to the Russian market at the level of 2017 due to the existing deficit of milk in Russia and the country’s plans to import it from third countries,” said Aleksei Bogdanov.

The next consultations on Russia’s proposal will take place as part of a videoconference on 26 April. The visit of the Russian delegation to Minsk, scheduled for 25-26 April, has been postponed.