Tuesday, 16 June 2009Negotiations with Belarus on the country's dairy exports, which are currently banned from Russia, have been suspended until the Belarusian position is clarified, Russia's top sanitary official said on Tuesday.
Gennady Onishchenko had said on Monday that Russian officials and a Belarusian delegation were to sign a protocol on Tuesday to formalize previously reached agreements.
"Public comments from Belarusian officials that we received through the country's press, as well as comments by the official media, gave me reason to doubt that the agreements reached with Minsk's delegation in Moscow comply with the stance of Belarusian officials," he said.
"So as not to waste their time and our time, we are taking time out, so that they can clarify their position, and depending on the results of their explanations, we will decide on whether to continue this work or not."
Earlier in June, Russia banned imports of more than 1,000 types of dairy products from Belarus, saying producers in the ex-Soviet republic had failed to comply with new Russian standards.
On Monday Onishchenko said the return of Belarusian dairy products to the Russian market would take a significant amount of time.
Russia introduced new technical regulations last year stipulating a variety of product-safety, terminology, packaging and labeling standards for milk and dairy-products. However, Belarus has not yet complied with the new regulations.
Minsk, whose economy is likely to suffer from the trade restriction, has qualified the move as "economic discrimination" and on Sunday boycotted a post-Soviet security summit in Moscow. |
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Ria Novosti
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