BELGRADE, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - Serbia has received a call from the European Union not to increase exports to Russia and not to take place of other European suppliers on the Russian market, Belgrade newspaper Blic reported.
At the same time, the Serbian national agency Tanjug, citing its sources, has reported about a certain "demarche" that the European Union sent to the Serbian government on Thursday. The topic or any other parts of this document have not been disclosed. The EU Delegation in Belgrade has refused to comment on the situation.
It is expected that the details concerning the demands from Brussels and the Serbian position on this issue will be announced on Friday afternoon at a special press conference of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. The conference will be devoted to "the EU demarche."
On August 7, Russia imposed bans on the import of meat, seafood, fruit and vegetables and milk products from the United States, European Union, Norway, Canada and Australia in response to a new round of Western sanctions.
Serbia is one of the few European countries not affected by an embargo on the import of food products.
This week, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and Domestic Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic said that Serbia could increase its exports of food products to Russia from $172 million in 2013 to $300 million in 2014.
A number of Latin American countries have already made it clear that the expansion of exports to Russia is the exclusive prerogative of national governments.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Thursday criticized the calls of the European Union member states on the third countries urging not to take advantage of Russia’s embargo on European food imports, saying that every country is free to choose its trade partners on its own.
