Coordinating center to aid exports to Russia to be set up

BELGRADE - Serbia will set up a coordinating center to help its businesses in exporting agricultural products to Russia, and it will operate at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS), the Serbian Ministry of Trade said in a release Monday.

The coordinating center will be available to exporters around the clock and will be in constant contact with the Trade Mission of the Russian Federation in Serbia to make sure any misunderstandings or issues concerning exports to the Russian market are immediately resolved.

The center will be comprised of officials of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Communications, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection and the Customs Administration, said the release.

Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic and PKS President Zeljko Sertic met with representatives of the Fruits of Serbia (Plodovi Srbije) association today to discuss opportunities for increasing exports of fruits and vegetables to Russia after a decision of the government in Moscow to introduce a one-year ban on imports of certain agricultural products from EU countries.

Officials of the Customs Administration and the Plant Protection Directorate said that Serbia’s fruit and vegetables bound for the Russian market, and also imports from the EU and other countries to the Serbian market, would start being more strictly controlled in the coming period to prevent possible abuses, particularly re-exports.

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Serbia have said that the quality of fruit and vegetables reaching the Russian market from Serbia was good, expressing the expectation that their standards would continue being met in the future, as that woud facilitate agricultural imports from...