Fruits and vegetables from Uzbekistan are planned to be shipped directly to the Russian Irkutsk region after an official delegation from the Surkhandarya region of the Central Asian republic, headed by the first deputy hokim (head of the local administration), Tura Bobolov, addressed Governor Sergei Levchenko on the issue. At the moment, those products still arrive through Novosibirsk after passing customs clearance and then being sold in the wholesale market to Irkutsk-based companies. With this scheme, a lot of valuable time is wasted, which is crucial when it comes to the delivery of perishable products. Direct contacts with firms of the Irkutsk region would make it possible for fruits and vegetables to be delivered faster.
"We came here to restore old ties. This year, we have a rich harvest of fruits and vegetables. We would like to share it with the Siberian region. We ask for your support to work on the issue of deliveries, mostly for onions, but also for the whole range of fruits and vegetables. We are interested in developing bilateral trade, since business cannot exist in one direction," said Tura Bobolov, the first deputy hokim (head of the local administration) of the Surkhandarya region of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Director of the Irkutsk Interregional Veterinary Laboratory, Boris Samarsky, praised the high quality of Uzbek vegetables and fruits. Large agricultural companies are currently operating in the Republic, where pesticides are practically not used and where a network of warehouse complexes for the storage of fresh fruits and vegetables has been created.
For a long time, it wasn't possible to arrange direct deliveries due to poor transport and logistics infrastructure, the lack of terminals for the storage of perishable goods, and the long customs clearance process, which took up to three days. Now this has been reduced to 24 hours and the transport and logistics problems have been solved. Direct contracts with local enterprises could significantly speed up the delivery time. Producers are ready to ship any volumes to the Irkutsk region.
"The delivery of fresh and processed agricultural products is of great interest to us. We are ready to cooperate in this area, taking into account the adherence to phytosanitary and other standards stipulated by the legislations of our states. We invite interested entrepreneurs to establish direct contacts. We also need to consider the issue of creating a site for storing and transhipping products," said Irkutsk Governor Sergei Levchenko
In order to organise the direct supply of fruit and vegetable products from Uzbekistan, the Governor convened a meeting with specialists from Irkutsk Customs, the Rosselkhoznadzor of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Irkutsk region, the regional Ministry of Agriculture, and the Consumer Market Service.
Over the past few years, the Republic of Uzbekistan has become one of the main trade partners of the Irkutsk region among the CIS countries. In 2017, the foreign trade turnover amounted to $ 79 million, an increase of almost 20% compared to 2016. Uzbekistan traditionally supplies the Irkutsk region with vegetables and fruits, canned foods and other consumer goods.
For its part, the Irkutsk region supplies Uzbekistan with timber, paper, cardboard or cellulose, as well as machinery and equipment and chemical products.
Source: snews.ru
