Moldovan Agriculture Ministry to meet Russian, Belorussian experts to discuss apple export-related issues

Chisinau, 10 February /MOLDPRES/-Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Eduard Grama today said he was waiting for a group of experts of Rospotrebnadzor and Rosselkhoznadzor Russian services, as well as for a team of experts from a counterpart Belorussian institution, to arrive to Moldova next weeks, in order to discuss problems related to Moldova’s apple exports on the Russian market.

“They were supposed to arrive last week, but for some reason they canceled their visit. Talks would rather be unpleasant,” Grama added.

Rosselkhoznadzor Russian phytosanitary service announced in late January that it could impose new restrictions on imports of fruit and vegetables from Moldova because Moldovan economic agents would illegally re-export products from the European Union through Belarus.

"The amount of vegetal products and their morphology suggests that being labeled as “madein Moldova”, they are in fact imported from the EU. To this effect, Rosselkhoznadzor could possibly impose restrictions on import of these products to companies that have been involved in such illegal schemes,“ a Rosselkhoznadzor press release reads.

Mass media investigations showed that hundreds of tons of apples from Poland, with Moldovan-origin certificates, are exported to Belarus and subsequently re-exported to Russia.

"Investigators must have their say in this case. For its part, the Agriculture Ministry notified the Prosecutor General's Office and the National Anticorruption Centre of the daily income of information on this, even if the National Agency for Food Safety is not under its subordination. Moreover, even after CNA’s interventions, Polish certificates for apples continue to appear. As these certificates should be confirmed, there is probably someone in the system who continues to do this,” Grama said.

“The problem is not new. A list of 33 companies having the right to export apples to Russia was made public a few years ago. Only two of them were producing and exporting. The rest of them were not in the business,” IDIS Viitorul expert, Viorel Chivriga said. According to him “state institutions are guilty of this, as they allowed certain doubtful companies to take the space honestly gained by Moldovan exporters”.

The Moldovan agriculture minister said customs taxes imposed by Russia for Moldovan products in September 2014, as a consequence of the EU Association Agreement’s ratification, would also be discussed during the Moldovan-Russian intergovernmental meeting due in May. ”We now have the opportunity to export wine, apples and other products. However, customs taxes hurt the competitiveness of our products, therefore it is a problem that we are focusing on,” the minister highlighted.

(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor L. Alcaza)