US party dragging out coordination of veterinary certificate

The American party is dragging out the coordination of the new veterinary certificate for US poultry supplies to Russia. On July 3rd, the US experts again refused to record the results of the talks on the issue, the Russian agriculture ministry's press video service said on Thursday. Instead, the Russian party received a proposal on continuing the negotiations, the ministry added.

In compliance with the current Russian-US agreements, before April 30th, 2002, the US official bodies were informed that US poultry supplies to Russia should be accompanied by new veterinary certificates from August 1st.

The set 60-day period for coordinating the certificates expired on July 1st, the press service said. Taking into account the progress of the talks it may be supposed that vessels with US poultry that will arrive to Russian ports after July 31, 2002, will not be able to have the new certificate on board. Thus, import of US poultry will be almost impossible from August 1st.

The ministry stressed that the Russian party was ready to continue the negotiations.