Ambassador: Russia will not ban Serbian food exports

Ambassador: Russia will not ban Serbian food exports

BELGRADE -- Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin has said that the export of Serbia's agricultural produce to Russia had not been compromised in any way.

After talking with Serbia's Minister of Trade Rasim Ljajic and Minister of Agriculture Snezana Bogosavljevic-Boskovic, Chepurin said on Tuesday that there had been no risk that Russia might introduce a ban on fruit and vegetable exports from Serbia.

The relevant inspectorates will discuss the technical matters relating to exports in Belgrade as soon as next week, he said.

Ljajic and Bogosavljevic-Boskovic informed Chepurin about the newly-established export control system for fruits and vegetables heading to Russia, which the relevant services of the two countries put in operation on March 2 this year.

The system implies the sending of scanned phytosanitary certificates even before a shipment is sent to the Russian market so the competent bodies know in advance the exact content of shipments expected to arrive in Russia, Ljajic's office stated.

Previously, media reports suggested that Russia was mulling a ban on fruit coming from Serbia due to suspicions that repackaged EU produce was being exported from Serbia.

Speaking for the state broadcaster RTS on Wednesday, Ljajic said Serbian exports to Russia have not been jeopardized, but that more strict checks and certificates will be introduced.

He also explained that there was "a communications problem" between the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and the Serbian embassy in Moscow, when "the Russian partners found documents submitted on time only several days later."

The documents, the minister added, provide "a clear overview of the...