WASHINGTON, November 8 (RIA Novosti) – US poultry exporters have found alternatives to Russia's market following Moscow's ban on food imports, but the two countries continue to partner on addressing common issues, Toby Moore, spokesman for the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council has told RIA Novosti.
"Sanctions have had no impact on this area of cooperation," Moore said Friday, explaining that both the US and Russian poultry industries are members of the International Poultry Council, an organization that brings together industry leaders from 28 countries to address issues of common interest.
Moore said that the main cooperative effort between Russian and US poultry industries has been the formation of Elinar Broiler in the late 1990s.
"Elinar, which is now a major supplier of chicken products to supermarkets in the Moscow region, was formed as a cooperative demonstration project between the U.S. industry and a Russian partner to help in the Russian industry's modernization efforts," Moore explained.
Moore added that although ownership in Elinar was transferred to the Russian partner a few years ago, several US poultry executives are active on its board of directors.
"To my knowledge, the sanctions have had little or no impact on the cooperation between the two industries," Moore concluded, adding that "neither the economic sanctions imposed against Russia by the West, nor the retaliatory food bans imposed by Russia, has had a noticeable impact on the U.S. poultry business".
On August 7, Moscow imposed a one-year ban on agricultural and food product imports from countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia, namely Australia, Canada, EU member-states, the United States and Norway. The import ban list includes meat, poultry, fish, seafood, milk, dairy products, and fruit and vegetables.
The United States and its allies have introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia over the past few months over its alleged involvement in Ukraine's internal affairs. Moscow has repeatedly denied these allegations, stressing that sanctions are counterproductive and cause harm to the countries using the measure.
