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Belarus, Russia to work out mechanism to resolve mutual animal products trade disputes
MINSK, 1 March (BelTA) – This March Belarus and Russia intend to finish working out a mechanism to remove mutual restrictions on trade in animal products, BelTA learned from Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, on 1 March.
The official said: “There is no need to make a drama out of the situation. Early this week our delegation worked in Moscow. Meetings were held with all the interested persons on the Russian side. We presented the view of the Belarusian side loud and clear. We reached an agreement that no drastic decisions will be made till 6 March. We are now working on a mechanism to fully address all the complaints expressed by the Russian Federation. We hope that all the documents, which will be passed in this period, will allow resolving the situation.”
According to Aleksei Bogdanov, Belarus is now taking a closer look at how much Belarusian food Russia can buy. “In particular, upon the request of the Russian side the volume of meat and dairy products will be concretized and revised right up to explaining the breakdown of monthly deliveries of crucial products such as milk powder. Apart from that, in March we intend to finish work on a roadmap designed to remove mutual restrictions on trade in animal products. We also intend to finish work on trade balance figures and arrange a joint meeting in March 2018,” he remarked.
The date and place of the meeting of representatives of the agrarian ministries have not been determined yet.
The Agriculture and Food Ministry representative specified that trade balance figures will be adjusted taking into account the opinion the Russian side expressed during the talks in Moscow. Aleksei Bogdanov said it is possible that the volume of milk powder deliveries may be decreased.
Aleksei Bogdanov stressed that the Agriculture and Food Ministry is working hard to diversify export. “Dairy products are shipped to 46 countries across the globe. We constantly work to diversify our export. We sold less milk powder to Russia in physical terms last year. The work will continue,” he stated.
Belarus sold about 4 million tonnes of milk and 330,000 tonnes of meat to Russia in 2017.
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