site.bta"Jointly with EC, Bulgaria Will Try to Sort Out Russia's Food Import Ban" - Agriculture Minister

"Jointly with EC, Bulgaria Will Try to Sort Out Russia's Food Import Ban" - Agriculture Minister

Rousse, on the Danube, September 4 (BTA) - Bulgarian Agriculture and Food Minister Desislava Taneva said here on Friday that "together with the European Commission, we will try to sort out the case with the Russian side: how did it occur and what occasioned that decision."

She was approached by journalists for reaction to media reports that, effective September 1, Russia banned the import of all regulated products accompanied by Bulgarian phytosanitary certificates. On Thursday, Russian government-owned international news service Sputnik quoted agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor as stating that the move was prompted by an admission by the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency that there have been incidences of export and reexport phytosanitary certificates being falsified by third parties in Bulgaria.

Taneva said that a formal letter on the import ban has not yet been received and the media are the only source of information on it. The Agriculture Minister denied Russian press reports that the Bulgarian side has issued falsified phytosanitary certificates.

Earlier in the day, Taneva was quoted by her Ministry in a press release as saying that she expects the EU-financed Maritime and Fisheries Programme 2014-2020 to be approved at the end of this year. She made this statement as she opened a fish and fish products processing enterprise in the Village of Ryahovo, Rousse Region.