site.btaBulgarian, Russian Agriculture Ministers Meet in St Petersburg

Bulgarian, Russian Agriculture Ministers Meet in St Petersburg

St Petersburg/Sofia, June 17 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Agriculture and Food Minister Dessislava Taneva met with Russia's Agriculture Minister Aleksandr Tkachev on the sidelines of the 20th St Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Agriculture Ministry said.

Taneva said: "Bulgaria's entire agricultural community is most concerned about the lifting of sanctions and wants to know if companies which exported goods before the embargo will be able to use the old approvals or will have to apply for new ones." She praised the setting up of a working group on agriculture at the 15th meeting of the Bulgarian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation.

Taneva said the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency had received applications from many new companies which want to trade with Russia once the sanctions are lifted.

She asked her Russian counterpart for information on the unilateral ban on import of plants, plant products and other, not subject to the sanctions on Russia, accompanied by Bulgarian phytosanitary certificates.

The Russian official said that two years after export to Russia stopped, Bulgarian companies are subject to an approval procedure.

The sides discussed a proposal for a working meeting with representatives of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance to clarify the unilateral ban on the phytosanitary certificates for plant products not subject to the sanctions.

Taneva said companies with Russian participation had invested nearly 35 million euro in vineyards and wineries, benefiting from EU programmes. Similar investments have been made in vegetable processing, and interest has recently been shown in tobacco processing.