4 April 2017, 10:21 GMT
MINSK (Sputnik) — Belarus expects Russia to lift its limits on agricultural imports from the neighboring country this month, Belarusian Agriculture Minister Leonid Zayats said Tuesday.
"We believe that this should take place in April," Zayats told reporters.
He added that a joint agricultural panel was expected to also convene in April, and a Russian agricultural watchdog visit was expected in Belarus this week.
Zayats noted that the Belarusian authorities provided Russia’s agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, with the evidence that they had found no violations by Belarusian enterprises and urged for the "rapid " review of existing issues in order to lift the restrictions.
In February, Rosselkhoznadzor imposed temporary restrictions on beef products from the Minsk region, citing their poor sanitary conditions and alleged re-export from Ukraine and EU countries that were subject to the 2014 restrictions. At present, 12 Belarusian dairy enterprises, eight meat processing factories and three poultry farms are not allowed to deliver their products to Russia.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened Rosselkhoznadzor chief Sergey Dankvert with a criminal probe for allegedly hindering Belarusian exports to Russia, while the agricultural watchdog said its restrictions were lawful.
