Russia lifts ban on Polish fruit and veg
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
19.07.2011 09:35
Poland can start exporting its fruit and vegetables back to Russia after almost three weeks of negotiations after a ban was imposed by Moscow following an outbreak of e.coli bacteria in the EU.
The lifting of the ban comes as sanitary authorities sent full requested documentation to Moscow on the safety of Polish foodstuffs last Thursday.
A delegation left for the Russian capital at the beginning of July to try and eradicate doubts as to the safety of fruit and vegetables produced in Poland. Earlier, Russia had allowed for the import of fruit and vegetables from six EU countries.
Russia placed an embargo on fruit and veg from the EU on 2 June after an outbreak of e.coli bacteria, killing 40 people as a result.
Experts have estimated that turnover between Russia and the EU vegetable trade reaches some 7 billion US dollars – a figure which has prompted Polish farmers to send some 5,000 appeals to the European Commission for compensation amounting to 81 million euro.
Meanwhile, it is not known whether the EU coffers can handle the compensation demands. Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki has said that the EU should have more resources to finance such compensation.
“I’ve always underlined that Poland is a large producer of foodstuffs, including fruit and vegetables,” he said during a meeting in Brussels, adding that the country is the “fifth largest producer of fruit and veg and a major exporter.” (jb)
Source: IAR