May 4, 2012

Ukraine lifts Belarus meat, dairy import ban

Ukraine has removed the temporary restrictions on the import of Belarusian meat and dairy products.

This was agreed in Minsk on Thursday (May 3), at a meeting of the First Vice-Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko with the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, BelTA reported.

"A protocol of negotiations to resolve issues of supplies of Belarusian meat and dairy products in Ukraine has been signed," the agency says.

Thus, from May 3, 2012, the Ukrainian side lifts the temporary constraints on the supply of meat and dairy products made by Belarusian enterprises.

According to Semashko, the parties have managed to settle the concerns over the supply in the short term. "We came to signing the protocol on April 15 and outlined a system of measures to resolve the issue," he said, adding the parties have found a compromise that would work for the benefit of both countries.

Poroshenko stressed the importance of completing the process of harmonisation of measures to guarantee the safety of products supplied to the Ukrainian market. A decision was made on the admission of products of 10 enterprises in Belarus to the Ukrainian market. "We are very grateful to our Belarusian counterparts for their decisions," he said.

In general, other issues of Belarusian-Ukrainian trade and economic cooperation were also raised during the talks in Minsk. Decisions were made on expanding ties in engineering, power industry and agriculture. The protocol of production and scientific technology cooperation between Belarus and Ukraine, as well as a framework agreement on leasing, were signed and forwarded for internal procedures.

From March 1, 2012, the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service of Ukraine suspended the importation into the territory of Ukraine of meat and dairy products, as well as animals susceptible to African swine fever, from Belarus.