2ND EU and Russia sign meat-trade memorandum in Berlin


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday January 19, 2007

Berlin- The European Union and Russia signed a memorandum on meat Friday in Berlin to help prevent the spread of the disease swine fever, but officials said there had been no breakthrough yet on a dispute over a Russian embargo against Polish meat. The memorandum on quality standards, signed by both sides' chief veterinarians, expands a 2004 document after Russia voiced concern that pork from Romania and Bulgaria, where the disease exists, might be exported via other EU nations.

The EU assured Russia last month no such pork would be let into the rest of the EU or Russia, and the new paper confirms this.

"We are guaranteeing food safety for both Russian and European consumers," said Markos Kyprianou, the EU health commissioner, as he attended International Green Week, an annual farm produce fair in Berlin.

But he said more time was needed to settle the Russia-Poland issue, dating back to a December 2005 import ban. It was expected to be raised Sunday by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in talks in Russia with President Vladimir Putin.

"We hope we can settle it as soon as possible," Kyprianou told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "But it can't be fixed from one day to the next." The EU Commission had provided Russia with documentation about Polish meat inspections.

It was up to Russia to read them and say what else it needed to know. Talks would continue Friday evening.

Polish Agriculture Minister Andrzej Lepper said, "Russia has to grasp that this is an issue with the European Union."

Merkel, exercising the EU presidency, had appealed Thursday to the parties to reach an agreement. German officials met with visiting Russian agricultural officials earlier in the day and German sources voiced optimism they could find a compromise soon.

After Russia imposed the embargo on Polish meat, Warsaw retaliated by using its EU veto powers to prevent negotiations between the bloc and Russia on a broad partnership accord.

Also at the fair Friday, Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeev announced that Moscow would allow duty-free imports of farm machinery for a further year.

The exemption, which had been set to run out this month, was created to boost investment in Russian farms, which need to modernize. The minister said by the time the extension expired, he hoped a long-term solution to the machinery issue would be found.

He said that at Green Week he would also discuss prospects for exporting Russian bio-fuels such as bio-ethanol in motor fuel, at a German-Russian Forum. Gordeev said Russian agricultural output had been growing on a scale unthinkable back in Soviet times.

It aimed to be a leading supplier of naturally pure products, he said, adding that pesticide use had been vastly reduced.

The trade fair, the 72nd in Berlin, opened its doors for the first time to professionals Friday, with 1,600 exhibitors from 56 nations showing produce and farm technology.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency