Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

The government of the Russian Federation has allowed importing only scarce vegetables from Turkey.

The position of the Ministry of Agriculture is that tomatoes and cucumbers should be supplied by Russian producers, Minister Alexander Tkachev said, TASS reported.

"We are allowed to import only those positions that do not significantly affect, in fact, they are scarce for us,” he said adding that the Agriculture Ministry, the Union of Vegetable Growers and Business understand that this niche should be taken by the vegetables of Russian production.

The volume of vegetable production in Russia, according to Tkachev, grows by almost 30 percent per year.

Last week, the Russian government lifted the ban on the supply of chewing gum, salt, onions, cauliflower, broccoli and cloves from Turkey.

Russia imposed a number of sanctions on Turkey in response to the downing of a Russian military aircraft by a Turkish fighter jet in Syria on November 24, 2015. Russian side targeted several sectors of the Turkish economy, banning Russian firms from organizing package tours to Turkey, restricting the operation of Turkish construction companies in Russia, and prohibiting the import of most products including a ban on food and flowers.

In June 2016, following Turkey's apology for the incident, the sides began a reconciliation process.

After the talks between the two countries’ presidents in October 2016, the Russian government decided to allow on its market a number of Turkish agricultural products, including citrus.

The embargo was lifted in respect of fresh and dried oranges and tangerines, fresh apricots, peaches and nectarines, plums and thorns, which make up much of Turkey's fruit exports to Russia.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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