Russia bans Georgian produce

The Russian Federal Veterinary Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) has temporarily banned the import of agricultural products and plants from Georgia to the Russian market from December 19.

Rosselkhoznadzor explained the decision by stating that Georgian export production does not meet international standards.

The Russian Ministry of Agriculture verbally notified all customs departments of the prohibition Monday, while information regarding the ban was released Tuesday by a Russian news agency.

Russian authorities say that their main reason for suspecting Georgian exports of inferior quality is the prevalence of supposedly forged certificates.

According to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, Head of Russian Federal Veterinary Service Sergei Dankvert said that Georgian imports frequently come with forged certification, and that the Georgian authorities are too lax with sanitary inspections. "On the whole, I'd say it's about mistrust towards the Georgian veterinary service," Dankvert said.

Georgian Minister of Agriculture Mikheil Svimonishvili has denied these accusations and suggested that the relatively lawless situations in Georgia's conflict zones could explain any irregularities.

"Only persimmons, citrus fruits, and apples have been exported so far from Georgia this season. We are aware, however that a number of products are exported from the uncontrolled territories bordering Russia although we are not able to be responsible for any certificates issued from these territories," Svimonishvili stated Tuesday.

Produce merchants returning from the Georgian-Russian border expressed despair at the current state of affairs. "Abkhaz people do not have to be cleared by customs but we do," fruit exporter Zurab Darakhvelidze told Georgian reporters, adding that Georgians must pay USD 3,000-4,000 per truckload, while Abkhaz vendors are able to export their products free of charge.

The Ministry of Agriculture is still waiting to receive official documentation of the ban, although Russian Ambassador to Georgia HE Vladimer Chkhikvishvili spoke Tuesday about what brought it on.

"The list is very large, as all these products exported to Russia have, over a long period of time, violated all the sanitary norms which exist in Russia," he said. Chkhikvishvili also added that these violations are proven by the preponderance of forged export certificates. "In my opinion, about 80 percent of the documents we see are fake," he claimed.

Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli said on December 20 that this is the first restriction of its kind that has been levied against the export of Georgian agricultural products to Russia. Noghaideli stated that agricultural products are currently being exported to Russia and "if any problem appears, we will try to deal with it in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks," Noghaideli said Tuesday, speaking in parliament.

On Wednesday, commenting on this issue before the government session, Svimonishvili told journalists that Georgia exports its products all over the world and "we have yet to have any problems concerning this issue."

Svimonishvili explained that all normal inspection and certification procedures have been followed and that the two sides will have to meet in order not to allow such a precedent. "Our delegation, together with representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, will go to Moscow and clarify exactly what kind of problems they have," Svimonishvili said before the session.

These restrictions are being applied to Georgian agricultural products, some products from Azerbaijan, and several other countries as well.

However, speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Russian Minister of Transport Igor Levitin said that concerning trade with Russia, Georgia holds one of the top places among the CIS countries.

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