Georgian greens will be exported to Russia

An agreement has been reached to allow Georgian green products to be exported to Russia.

Georgia’s First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Nodar Kereselidze announced plans were now underway to arrange a meeting with Russia’s phytosanitary experts, who review the health of plants, especially with respect to the requirements of international trade.

Kereselidze said the Russian experts were due to visit Georgia in the next few days. The exact type of greens that will be exported to Russia will be officially announced after the Russian experts' visit.

"They will carry out special procedures necessary for exporting the greens. After that I hope all trade barriers will be removed,” he said.

Discussions between Georgia and Russia regarding agricultural products and trade opportunities began in January at the Green Week 2015 event in Berlin.

Within the framework of Green Week 2015 (Gruene Woche 2015), head of Georgia’s National Food Agency Zaza Dolidze signed an agreement with Russia’s Sergey Dankvert, who is head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor). The agreement determined the export rules of Georgian green products, said Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture at the time.

The agreement noted until Georgia had established the state system of laboratory expertise, the Georgian and Russian sides must jointly implement preliminary procedures of the green products’ phytosanitary certification.

Before exporting to the Russian market, Georgian products had to undergo strict analysis at the Rosselkhoznadzor’s plant quarantine centre.

The existing turnover of agricultural products between Georgia and Russia amounted to $200 million USD (about 424 million GEL) last year and was positively assessed in Berlin.

Meanwhile the opportunity to export Georgian fish, honey, sunflowers, corn and green products to Russia was also discussed at the meeting in Germany.