Moscow - The head of Russia's agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor Sergei Dankvert went to Budapest Monday for a Russian-Hungarian Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation Commission meeting, where he also plans to meet representatives from Germany's Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Ministry to discuss meat trading.
“A meeting with the ministry’s State Secretary Robert Kloos is planned and with the Head of the Product Export to Russia Office Gerhard Rech to discuss what our colleagues can do to eliminate the issues identified by our specialists during a recent inspection of German companies,” Dankvert told Interfax before flying to Budapest.
The actions taken against countries that violate Customs Union requirements for imports, including restrictions, largely depend on whether veterinary services can quickly eliminate the issues. “For example, recently a ban was threatened against Poland, but its veterinary service quickly took steps, carried out an investigation – and now there is no reason to take drastic steps,” Dankvert said.
The veterinary services in the Netherlands and Ukraine work in the same way. “Belarus is also quick to deal with any problems.”
But there are still questions regarding Germany’s veterinary service. Dankvert reckons the reason for this is a systemic problem related to the fact that the European Commission is not monitoring exports. “Free movement of products within the EU is harming its export, because dishonest suppliers often try to bypass Russian requirements and buy products from companies that do not have the right to export their products to Russia,” he said. “As a result we have to stop these supplies with all the negative consequences for exporters.”
“We will also discuss this with our colleagues in Hungary and Germany in Budapest,” Dankvert said.
During a recent Russian inspection of German companies, 16 meat producers, 9 poultry manufacturers, 14 pork, 4 beef, 8 intestine, 19 milk and dairy and 65 fish production companies were excluded from the list of suppliers to the Customs Union.
In addition, the German veterinary itself struck off 133 meat, dairy and fish suppliers. Rosselkhoznadzor said that the inclusion of such a large number of companies on the list of suppliers indicated that a proper check on compliance with Customs Union veterinary-sanitary conditions had not been carried out.
