Belarusian PM urges EAEU countries to cut dependence on imported seeds, breeding material

MINSK. Aug 25 (Interfax) - Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko has called on Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries to reduce their dependence on imported seeds and breeding material in agriculture.

"There is a common challenge for everyone, a certain dependence on imported seed and breeding material. This is a concrete problem that we should tackle and demonstrate our joint successes," Golovchenko said on Thursday at an extraordinary meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

A "crucial objective for the medium term is the replacement of foreign genetic material, regardless of the current political situation and each of our countries' relations with other partners," he said, adding that "this objective in the current conditions is turning into an objective of national security."

"Therefore, I believe that we can set reaching a certain threshold of seed and breeding material self-sufficiency by 2030 as a reference point for ourselves in this work. For example, 80%," Golovchenko said.