EEC to establish mechanism for rapid response to food situation in EAEU countries - Agricultural Policy Director

MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) intends to create a mechanism that will make it possible to rapidly respond to the food situation in Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries, the EEC's director of agricultural policy, Armen Arutyunyan said on Friday.

"We considered various scenarios, options for the development of such instruments and created a platform that makes it possible to promptly respond in the event that a country faces a shortage of some product," Arutyunyan said at the Agroholdings-2022 conference in Moscow organized by the Agroinvestor magazine.

"In one day our platform can organize a meeting at the level of deputy ministers of the relevant ministries, specifically agriculture ministries, to determine how countries can help supply a given product. That is, these mechanisms are now being worked out on the platform," he said.

The overall dynamic of the development of the EAEU's agriculture and food sector is positive, and now the objective is "material and technical support and improving logistics infrastructure that will facilitate both the growth of mutual trade and access to the markets of third countries," Arutyunyan said.

Agricultural production in EAEU countries grew by almost 5% year-on-year in the first ten months of 2022, he said. The growth was driven primarily by Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The level of food self-sufficiency remained at least year's level of about 95%.