Russia receives 80% of Belarusian food exports
MOSCOW. March 31 (Interfax) - Russia accounts for 80% of food product exports from Belarus, Belarusian Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats said in Moscow on Thursday at a joint collegium meeting of the two countries' agriculture ministers.
Russia is the top priority market for Belarusian agricultural producers, he said.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Zayats said Belarus accounts for 55% of Russia's dairy product imports and 29% of its meat imports.
At the same time, he said the Belarusian market was open to Russian food exports.
Commenting on questions about the quality of some Belarusian food products raised by Rosselkhoznadzor, Zayats said: "All quality parameters are stringently monitored" and any problems that arise are dealt with in the normal course of business.
"Questions about quality do arise, but this is a normal, routine situation," Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said. "Our services respond seriously to them and, most importantly, we have all sorts of tools for resolving them," Tkachev said.
For the most part, the quality of Belarusian products delivered to the Russian market is "pretty decent," he said.
Tkachev said he is satisfied overall with bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector. "Taking into account that supplies from the EU have been shut off, we allow the Belarusian colleagues to operate on our market to the fullest degree, but at the same time we want to increase our own production and cover the niches that have opened up," Tkachev said.
