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BELARUSIAN ECONOMY
Belarus, Serbia to develop cooperation in seed production, phytosanitary activities
BELGRADE, 20 April (BelTA) – The fourth meeting of the Belarusian-Serbian working group on cooperation in the area of agriculture and food took place in Belgrade as part of the tenth meeting of the Belarus-Serbia intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, BelTA has learned.
The meeting of the working group was chaired by State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Zeljko Radosevic and Belarus' Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister Vladimir Grakun. The Belarusian delegation also comprised representatives of the Agriculture and Food Ministry, the scientific and practical center for arable farming under the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, and the experimental scientific station on sugar beet.
The parties exchanged information on the trade in agricultural and food products between Serbia and Belarus. The Belarusian representatives expressed readiness to export potato, dairy and flour products to Serbia.
The parties agreed to intensify cooperation in the area of veterinary and phytosanitary activities.
Apart from that, an agreement was reached to continue the production of seeds of the Belarusian varieties in Serbia. Belarus reaffirmed the interest in producing parental varieties of corn, seeds of lucerne, sugar beet, sunflower, garlic and pumpkin in Serbia. The working group recommended the parties to work out every possible option and prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation with research organizations on the matter. The Belarusian delegation invited Serbian counterparts to visit Belagro 2017 which is due in Minsk in June.
The parties agreed that there is a need for a more active use of the potential to boost trade in animal products that are subject to veterinary control; step up cooperation between the corresponding veterinary services of the two countries with a view to getting familiar with the system of issuing certificates of safety for Belarusian animal products bound for the export to Serbia; familiarize with the rules of transporting products of vegetable and animal origin to/through Belarus via the authorized border crossing points.
In the phytosanitary area the parties were unanimous that it is necessary to develop cooperation between competent phytosanitary services of the two countries through the exchange of information with a view of using the best mechanisms of revealing and preventing the falsification of phytosanitary certificates in the import of vegetable products to the market of Belarus and the Eurasian Economic Union. The parties also agreed to establish an exchange of the best practices between the competent bodies of the two countries in an effort to develop cooperation in the area of protecting the rights of plant breeders.
The Belarusian agricultural delegation visited the fields of the Serbian seed-production farm Smedex Co. The company has already launched the project of multiplying the Belarusian seeds of lucerne and sugar beet on the request of Belarusian agricultural companies. Belarusian agrarians also visited the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops (Novi Sad) with which Belarus cooperates in the selection and seed production of corn, sunflower, and permanent grasses.
The Belarusian and Serbian counterparts agreed to closely cooperate in every agricultural area of mutual interest.
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