Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 26 October (BelTA) – Belarus is waiting for Russia’s positive decision in order to resume supplies from over 40 Belarusian dairy companies, Belarus Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats told reports on 26 October, BelTA has learned.

“We are waiting for a positive decision of the Russian Federation on these companies,” the minister said.

He noted that a ban or partial restrictions apply to 43 Belarusian dairy producers. Leonid Zayats believes that this issue will soon be resolved. “We expect it to be settled in the near term. In November,” he noted.

Earlier, Belarus’ Vice Premier Mikhail Rusy commented on the difficulties facing dozens of Belarusian companies while shipping their products to Russia. “There are uniform rules of the game for both sides. There are technical regulations. They should be strictly observed. There are roadmaps; they were fleshed out, however we have made little headway to implement them. We agreed that the amount of products that were not delivered in line with our balance sheets for 2018 will be shipped by the end of the year. We are drafting proposals on the types of products and manufacturers who will make up for underdelivered products. It is equivalent to about 320,000 tonnes of milk,” he said.

Apart from that, during the 5^th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia in October, the two countries signed food balance sheets for 2019. Belarus plans to ship about 320,000 tonnes of meat products to Russia in 2019, up 11% over 2018. Dairy export will also increase to 3.7 million tonnes (up 2.6%).