MOSCOW, 20 August (BelTA) - The Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, which met in Kyrgyzstan's city Cholpon-Ata on 19-20 August with the participation of Belarus' Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, approved a road map to develop a common market for organic agricultural products in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), BelTA learned from the press service of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
“This gives the EEC together with the countries of the union an opportunity to start working on an international agreement, the adoption of which will ensure the free movement of organic agricultural products within the EAEU. A key provision of the agreement will be the unification of requirements for the production and labeling of such products, which will serve as the basis for mutual recognition of the certification systems of their production,” the press service said.
The parties also agreed to study the issues related to the development and unification of statistics of production, import and movement of organic agricultural products.
According to expert estimates, the share of areas involved in organic farming does not exceed 1% of the total arable land in the EAEU today. Production has raw-material orientation. “We expect that after the adoption and gradual implementation of the road map, the development of the organic sector in the Eurasian Economic Union will significantly increase its pace. The common market conditions will contribute to the diversification of production and deepening of processing of organic products on the basis of cooperation of business entities of EAEU countries,” said member of the Board (Minister) of Industry and Agriculture of the EEC Artak Kamalyan.
The final stage will be the preparation of EEC recommendations to the EAEU member states on ensuring access of EAEU-made organic agricultural products to the markets of third countries. “The agreement will draw on the appropriate international experience, which will help our manufacturers to tap into foreign premium markets of organic products in the future. In particular, we are planning to cooperate with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)."
