Russian meat ban “symbolic” says Moldovan official
The country’s export of processed meat to Russia has only amounted to a few tonnes per year on average, the official said, noting that the country mainly exports fresh meat to Russia, which is currently not affected by the ban.
The Russian ban on processed Moldovan meat, in place from 5 July was seen by the diplomat as a reaction to the country ratifying its free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) on 2 July.
Russia’s federal service for veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance, Rosselkhoznadzor, announced the ban on 1 July. It said that, in mid-June a Moldovan company, which was not approved to export products to the Eurasian Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, sent four contested consignments of pork fat to Belarus without the correct authorisation. "This case is a serious violation of the Customs Union and international veterinary and sanitary requirements for the certification of regulated products," Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement.
According to the Moldovan official, Belarus and Kazakhstan have not imposed bans, despite being fellow members of the Russian-dominated Customs Union and the fact that the pork fat had been sent to Belarus.
In the short term, the FTA between the EU and Moldova will not help the latter recover any loss it may suffer from this Russian ban, or any that might follow, explained the Moldovan official, who said Moldova still had to align its laws with the EU’s sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards to be able to export all types of meat products to the bloc.
Moldova is due to submit a list of laws in the area of SPS and animal welfare that it intends to align with the EU in the three months following the official entry-into-force of the agreement, which will take place after it is ratified by all EU member states.
