Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić said that we are on the path to solving the problem with the export of meat to Russia and that such situations must not be repeated. After the meeting with the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Nikolai Fyodorov, Ljajić said that the Russian side was fully satisfied with the explanations provided by the Serbian delegation.

Serbia is the only European country that currently has the ability and permission to export pork to Russia, which is a huge opportunity that must not be compromised because of individual exporters who want to make a bigger profit than usual through various ways, said Ljajić in a statement for Tanjug.

“We cannot jeopardize the reputation of our exporters due to one incident – there are eight pork producers who have a license to export to the Russian market and there has never been a problem”, said Deputy Prime Minister Ljajić.

The Serbian Minister of Trade said that it was agreed with the Russian side that experts from the Veterinary Directorate of Russia will visit Serbia and hold seminars for our producers and inspectors in order to harmonize all the standards regarding the export of meat from Serbia to Russia.

“In addition, two of our experts will stay in Russia, where they will work on the standardization of the so-called digital certificates in order to prevent such situations in the future and in order to act pre-emptively,” said Ljajić.

It was agreed that we will establish contacts on an operational level between the two Veterinary Directorates and thus deal with any problems if they occur on a daily basis, said the Minister.

He added that the Serbian delegation informed the Russian colleagues about all the details of the case.

The Representatives of Serbia presented the measures taken to deal with the problem: the inspector who worked on the case was suspended, and the unconscionable manufacturer has been banned from exporting his goods until the whole situation is resolved.

Also, other relevant government authorities have become involved in the examination of the case and if it is determined that there was any abuse, criminal charges will be filed against the manufacturer, said Ljajić.