U.S. poultry export to Russia may be resumed earlier than in two months, U.S. ambassador to Russia John Beyrle said on Monday.
"I would hope that this [the resumption of the U.S. poultry export] will happen earlier than in two months," Beyrle said in Russian while speaking with students and staff at a Moscow university.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barrack Obama announced at a joint press conference on Thursday that Moscow and Washington have agreed to remove obstacles to U.S. exports to Russia and to restart U.S. poultry supplies to Russia.
The United States accounted for some 20% of poultry Russia consumed in 2009. The two countries have been in talks on resuming poultry imports after new harsher sanitary requirements came into force from January 1, 2010, effectively banning imports of U.S. poultry.
Russia's chief sanitary official Gennady Onishchenko said in late May that Russia and the United States were close to reaching a solution to resume poultry supplies, halted due to Russia's ban on chlorine-treated products.
Obama said the poultry imports meant "billions of dollars" for the U.S. economy, and added that he is grateful to Medvedev and other Russian officials for addressing the issue seriously.
MOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti)
