Turkey to give Russia 5,000-tonne duty-free beef import quota with view to increase
BERLIN. Jan 21 (Interfax) - Turkey will allocate a quota for duty-free beef imports from Russia in the amount of 5,000 tonnes under an agreement reached by Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev and his Turkish counterpart Bekir Pakdemirli at a meeting during Green Week in Berlin.
"An agreement on the allocation of quotas to Russian enterprises to import 5,000 tonnes of beef into Turkey with a zero-rate import duty, with the possibility of a future increase of this amount, was reached at the meeting," Patrushev said on the sidelines of the trade fair.
For its part, Russia has created all of the conditions for giving Turkish agricultural products access to its market, Patrushev said. For example, a decision was made to double the import quota for tomatoes from Turkey to 100,000 tonnes from 50,000 tonnes.
However, Patrushev told the Turkish officials that it is necessary to tighten phytosanitary control and quality compliance for food products shipped to Russia.
It was reported earlier that Russia and Turkey agreed on the veterinary certificate for Russian beef shipments to the Turkish market in December.