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Belarus threatens Ukraine with trade war

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Belarus threatens Ukraine with trade war

Belarus threatens to ban import of Ukrainian goods from 3 pm on Monday, 5 March.

On 2 March chairperson of the State Veterinary service of Ukraine Ivan Bisiuk met with First Vice Director of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Food of the Belarusian Agricultural Ministry Yury Pivavarchyk, the press-service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Agricultural Policies and Food reports. The meeting was initiated by the Belarusian part.

The Ukrainian part suggested concrete actions to solve the problem around the ban on import of meat and dairy products from Belarus to Ukraine. The Belarusian part however was not willing to cooperate and announced instead that a ban on the import of Ukrainian goods can be inferred.

During the recent six months a simplified import system of Belarusian dairy products to Ukraine has been used. Since last October higher levels of antibiotics have been registered several times in Belarusian dairy products by Ukrainian veterinary inspectors.

“According to the Ukrainian legislation, and according to the European requirements, the presence of antibiotics in ready food products is not acceptable. The Ukrainian part has submitted a range of official warnings and recommendations on the elimination of the violations, in particular, in the note from 5 October #15-3-1-16-8644. Unfortunately, the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Food of the Belarusian Agricultural Ministry did not respond to our notes, and in February 2012 antibiotics were found on a regular basis,” chairperson of the State Veterinary service of Ukraine Ivan Bisiuk said.

He asserted that the decision to temporarily ban import of Belarusian dairy products to Ukraine was motivated solely by the fact that antibiotics have been detected regularly. At the same time, the State Veterinary service of Ukraine has suggested specific solutions to the problem, such as an examination of the monitoring system of pollution elements in raw materials and ready products that should be conducted in full accordance with the European requirements. Another suggestion was an inspection of Belarusian enterprises.

”During the official meeting, the Belarusian part did not make any attempt to refute the criticism by the State Veterinary service of Ukraine. They presented an ultimatum instead of suggesting cooperation and mutual efforts to fix the situation. The Belarusian part threatened to ban import of Ukrainian goods, in particular butter, salt, corn, confectionaries, and grain wastes, starting from 3 pm on Monday, 5 March, in case the Ukrainian part does not cancel the temporary limitations. The Belarusian part doesn’t apprehend any suggestions of the Ukrainian State Veterinary service on how to solve the problem by elimination of the failures of the Belarusian recycling companies and by controlling antibiotics monitoring plans. Instead, Belarus as a Customs Union member informed Ukraine about its intention to apply to other members for their help in banning import of Ukrainian goods to the Customs Union countries,” Ivan Bisiuk remarked.

”This is unacceptable. We cannot start monitoring of the veterinary medicine of another country to make sure there are no antibiotics, on Monday. We will do our best to seek a consensus and I hope we will find it,” the head of the State Veterinary service of Ukraine emphasized.

“As for the meat products that were banned to prevent the African swine fever virus from coming to Ukraine, representatives of the Belarusian part were ready to present all necessary documentation and permission for Ukrainian specialists to inspect pig populations. Today the Ukrainian-Belarusian cooperation is in need of a constructive dialogue, not ultimatums and threats,” Ivan Bisiuk added.

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