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Russia, India to continue talks on supplies of Indian dairy products in September

MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. Russia will continue talks with India on supplies of Indian dairy products /first of all hard cheese/ to Russia in September, according to the press-service of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor).

This agreement was reached during the consultations in Moscow on Thursday.

"The parties agreed that it will be reasonable to hold talks on the level of experts on this issue /supplies of dairy products from India / in September," - the statement said.

During the consultations on Thursday, the Russian delegation was headed by Vasily Lavrovsky, head of veterinary inspections department as part of international cooperation and the WTO. The Indian delegation was headed by director of the trade Guruprasad Mohapatra, head of department of Commerce in the Indian Commerce Ministry.

According to the Indian delegation it is difficult to meet Russia’s requirement that milk for dairy products should be supplied only from large farms /at least thousand cattle/. Currently, there are only two flocks with such a livestock, which constraints possibilities to produce dairy products for the Russian market.

According to Lavrovsky, this requirement was included in the draft agreement because the territory of India is not free from such dangerous diseases as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), tuberculosis, brucellosis, and it is much easier to ensure control over health of animals on large farms than on small ones.

Earlier on Thursday, an official with the Russian watchdog said that Russia may soften the requirements if India guarantees an effective system of monitoring and control over movements and health of its livestock.

In April, the Russian watchdog allowed exports of dairy products from India to Russia and made a list of companies and individuals with the right to supply - two Indian producers of hard cheese - Parag Milk Foods and Shreiber Dynamix Diaries. However, so far the country has not signed the protocol on security norms in veterinary and sanitary dairy production, which defers the start of supplies.

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