OREANDA-NEWS. May 12, 2012. The export of Moldovan wines to Russia will be liberalized "in the near future", Agriculture and Food Minister Vasile Bumacov said. Moldova has been exporting wine to Russia via two customs terminals for more than five years, with the procedure being imposed after Russia banned imports of Moldovan wine in 2006.

During a today's meeting with wine-makers, Prime Minister Vlad Filat said that the Moldovan wineries would no longer have to ship their wines to two storehouses in Moscow and St. Petersburg in order to have them sold after that. In the near future, the Moldovan wineries will be able to export to Russia via all the customs checkpoints. To do this, the companies will have to produce solid guarantees of their wine quality, Filat said.

Filat told the wine-makers that the EU had doubled the quota of Moldovan wines and that the authorities have been taking efforts to facilitate the export of wine to China.

According to the Agriculture and Food Ministry, there are 46 Moldovan wine companies exporting quality wines to Russia, 13 of which export wine in bulk. The ministry is drafting an action plan to ensure the quality of wine.