MINSK, November 30 (Sputnik) – The Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) will consider Russia-Belarus issues concerning the delivery and transit of foodstuffs, Leonid Marinich, Belarus' first deputy agriculture minister, said Sunday.
"According to our information, following the Belarusian government's request, the Board of the EEC will meet on December 2 and discuss the issue," Marinich said in an interview with Belarusian channel Belarus 1.
He added that Minsk proposed creating a joint laboratory within the EEC to test the quality of foodstuffs, however Moscow did not support the idea.
"Unfortunately, we fail to find support in this case. The Russian Federation thinks it is not necessary," the first deputy said, noting that Belarus decided to address an EEC body to resolve the issue.
Earlier, Russian agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, has banned the delivery of goods of more than 20 Belarusian companies due to the African swine fever virus (ASFV) genome discovered in the goods.
There have also been reports about troubles with delivering goods by Belarusian companies from the EU to Kazakhstan and Mongolia through Russia. Moscow did not let such deliveries be carried out via Russia's territory, since in early August Russia banned food imports from the European Union in response to the sanctions the bloc has implemented against Moscow.
Belarus hopes to settle the issues with Russia during talks next week and sign the needed documents on December 2.
In October, Rosselkhonzadzor already informed Vasily Pivovar, Chief Veterinarian of Belarus, of the discovered ASFV genome in the meat of several Belarusian meat processing plants, which is a major violation of Russia's veterinary and sanitary requirements.
The Russian watchdog asked the Belarusian side to investigate the causes of the incident and take necessary steps to prevent the export of infected products to Russia.
