Russia interested in exporting ice cream to Egyptian market, Egypt offering fish
MOSCOW. Sept 24 (Interfax) - Russian companies are interested in exporting dairy products and ice cream to the Egyptian market, while Egypt hopes to secure the right to export fish products to Russia, the head of plant and animal health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, Sergei Dankvert said after talks with the head of the Egyptian Agriculture Ministry's Central Administration of Plant Quarantine, Ahmed Kamal El-Attar and the head of the General Veterinary Services Organization's Central Administration of Veterinary Quarantine, Ahmed Badi.
These and some other issues of mutual trade will be discussed further in a separate video conference between the two countries' veterinary services and resolved soon on a priority basis. "For example, the draft veterinary certificate for shipments of fish products to Russia will be sent to the Egyptian side today already," the Russian watchdog said in a statement.
Russian exports of poultry products were a separate subject of the talks. Due to the difficult epidemiological situation in the world, Egypt has decided to automatically extend the three-year licenses of Russian companies with the right to supply poultry meat that expired this year, the statement said.
Egypt has traditionally been one of the main importers of Russian grain. Russia has exported more than 4 million tonnes of wheat and meslin to Egypt this year, Federal Customs Service data show.
Russia, in turn, imports substantial amounts of vegetables and fruit from Egypt. Dankvert said that Egypt has dramatically increased exports of table potatoes to Russia this year. They topped 196,000 tonnes by September 20, which is 62,000 tonnes more than in all of 2019.
The growth in exports has made control over the phytosanitary safety of plant products by the Egyptian authorities even more essential, the Russian watchdog said. This year Rosselkhoznadzor has seen an increase in cases of quarantinable objects being found in Egyptian food products, which in some cases results in their return to shippers.
Experts from Rosselkhoznadzor and Egypt's Central Administration of Plant Quarantine will hold a video conference next week to resolve this issue and establish a prompt exchange of information.