Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency and relevant agencies are taking joint measures to lift restrictions on the tomatoes and apple export from Azerbaijan to Russia.

Russia’s agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has lifted the ban on the imports of tomatoes grown in Azerbaijan for 12 more enterprises from February 5, Russia media has reported.

In order to remove the existing import restrictions, Rosselkhoznadzor in cooperation with Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency conducts video inspections of Azerbaijani enterprises to determine whether they are infected with tomato moth.

“Taking into account the negative results of the phytosanitary quarantine examination of the samples taken during the video inspections of January 14-29, Rosselkhoznadzor decided to allow the import of tomatoes from February 5 under the guarantees of Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency," the statement says.

The restrictions are lifted for Amoris, Alza Holding-1, BVB Farming enterprise, H and M Agro, Aqroinnova, Agro, Agro-Land-Az, A-Alyans, Paradise Agro, T Tomatoes, Kurdamir Agro and Guliyev Bashir Shain enterprises.

Earlier Food Safety Agency’s Chairman Goshgar Tahmazli and the Head of Rosselkhoznadzor Sergey Dankvert hold a telephone conversation on lifting restrictions on the tomatoes and apple export from Azerbaijan to Russia.

The chairman of the agency informed about the strengthening of control at the enterprises involved in the apples and tomatoes production, noting the activities on plant protection and joint video monitoring measures carried out.

Additionally, the issue of exporting apples and tomatoes to Russian from enterprises where plant protection measures have been implemented was discussed during the telephone conversation.

Rosselkhoznadzor banned the import of Azerbaijani tomatoes and apples on December 10, citing the necessity to “prevent the import and spread” of pesticides to Russia.

Azerbaijan is a major supplier of fruits and vegetables to Russia. The country ranked first in supplies of fresh and chilled tomatoes.

Russia was Azerbaijan's third-largest trade partner, as well as the first largest trade partner among CIS countries in 2020 with a trade turnover of $2.6 billion. Export to Russia amounted to $709.3 million, while import to $1.9 billion.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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