OREANDA-NEWS. September 23, 2009. Belarus and Russia have agreed next year’s food trade figures. They will remain at this year’s level. The information was released by Mikhail Savelyev, Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister of Belarus, as he commented on results of the joint session of the boards of the Belarusian and Russian agriculture and food ministries that took place in Moscow on 22 September.

In 2010 the mutual trade will stay at this year’s level, said the Deputy Minister. However, the forecast figures may be increased.

According to Mikhail Savelyev, the session focused on the safety of mutual food supplies. In particular, the possibility of increasing the quality of food and raw stock traded between the two countries was discussed. “We assured each other that the food supplies meet the established standards,” said the official. “Yet we agreed that veterinary services of Belarus and Russia will be able to selectively examine guaranteed quality food suppliers”.

The sides signed instructions regarding procedures of inspecting fish and meat processing companies for compliance with uniform veterinary and sanitary requirements of Russia and Belarus. An agreement was signed to ensure the safety of products imported from third countries.

“We also suggested that the Russian and Belarusian veterinary agencies should use uniform documents used for product registration at veterinary stations. It will allow preventing possible traffic jams at the border and accelerating the delivery of products to customers,” remarked Mikhail Savelyev.