MINSK, 7 February (BelTA) – A new mechanism to execute and control the fulfillment of authorized food trade plans has been worked out in the Union State of Belarus and Russia, BelTA learned from Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, on 7 February.
Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Rusy met with Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Aleksei Gordeyev the other day to discuss matters relating to agribusiness. “These negotiations were very successful. The dialogue proceeded in a positive manner. The negotiations focused on further advancement of bilateral cooperation in the Union State of Belarus and Russia: what we need to do in agribusiness in order to benefit both countries and avoid conflict situations in trade in various products. In turn, we suggested a mechanism to execute and control the intended supply and demand balance of the Union State, which we sign every year. The Russian colleagues agreed to that,” said Aleksei Bogdanov.
Papers to specify how much agricultural produce Belarus and Russia intend to sell to each other in 2019 were signed during the fifth Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia. “During the forum we signed an agreement, according to which we intend to sell 3.71 million tonnes of milk and dairy products to Russia as well as 320,000 tonnes of meat and meat products. A mechanism to fulfill the plans has been worked out. Today we've broken down the volumes of shipment of milk and dairy products per month and agreed that we are going to oversee the execution of the plans via working groups, which will convene every quarter of the year. We will use this mechanism to verify and control the volume of shipments. The main stumbling block is milk powder, which can be restored and can compete with raw milk made in Russia during the high milk output period, that is in summer. We have an understanding. We are going to continue working in this area,” the official said.
