Difficult talks on mutual market access between Russia and Indonesia

At the close of July, the Assistant Head of Russia’s vet watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor Artem Daushev took part in the program of Russian-Indonesian expert consultations on cooperation in the field of agriculture and fisheries products in the format of a videoconference, reports Megafishnet.com.

According to Rosselkhoznadzor, the participants of the delegations, including representatives of the relevant departments of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Indonesia, discussed issues of mutual access for animal products.

According to Artem Daushev, the Rosselkhoznadzor has been waiting for a long time for the Indonesian approval of the veterinary certificates for the export of meat and dairy goods from Russia to Indonesia with no response from the foreign colleagues.

In addition, the Russian vets sent to the Indonesian side a list of fish processing enterprises, plants for the production of artemisia cysts and fishmeal for certification. However, there was no letter in return from the Fish Quarantine and Inspection Agency of the Ministry of Marine Resources and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia.

Representatives of the Indonesian delegation promised to speed up the process of approval of the veterinary certificates and the study of questionnaires on the Russian enterprises.

During the video conference, the participants also discussed the supply of Indonesian amino acid (lysine) to the Russian market. Artem Daushev, Assistant Head of the Rosselkhoznadzor, said that the products intended for the manufacture of feed are feed additives and are subject to state registration in Russia. Earlier, an inspection of the enterprise of the Republic of Indonesia supplying lysine was carried out. As part of the inspection, the laboratory that controls the specified products was also visited. According to the results of the inspection, the import of goods to Russia was restricted. There were no new requests for registration of these products to the Rosselkhoznadzor, Daushev said. The Agency is ready to consider the possibility of re-certification of the Indonesian lysine after an official appeal to the Service.

In addition, according to the Russian vets, the issue of further expanding the range of suppliers of Indonesian fish products can be considered only on the basis of an inspection of the country’s enterprises by Rosselkhoznadzor specialists.

At the end of the meeting, the extension of the Agreement on Quality Control and Hygienic Safety of Imports and Exports of Fish and Fish Products was discussed. The document includes a provision for automatic prolongation for the next 3 years after the expiration of the validity period.