May 11, 2007

Russia declines to set date on lifting Polish meat import ban
 

Russia has declined to set a date or agree to a timescale to lift its current ban on Polish meat imports, the head of Russian Foreign Ministry's European cooperation department Sergey Ryabkov said in a statement Friday.

Ryabkov added that all will depend on how quickly and effectively the European Union can satisfy Russia's complaints about supplies of bad quality meat from third countries via Poland.

"Russia is surprised by appeals from certain EU officials to set a date for lifting the embargo on Polish meat in order to unblock the process of signing a new cooperation agreement between Russia and the EU," Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the ministry's press service.

"We've said repeatedly that the problem cannot be solved by political means. We are talking here about concrete, understandable and well documented cases of bad quality meat reaching Russia's markets from third countries via Poland."

Ryabkov said there had been progress in the solution of the problem, adding, "We cannot agree to set a date for lifting the embargo. If someone in the EU wants to set such a date, they should define for themselves when they can satisfy our concerns. If they can do it before the coming EU-Russia summit, then everything will be decided there and then."

Russia imposed a ban on the import of meat from Poland in 2005, a move that pushed Warsaw to veto talks aimed at forging closer energy and trade ties between Russia and the European Union.