India wants Russia to lift rice imports ban

NEW DELHI: Seeking greater market access for its agriculture products, India on Wednesday asked Russia to lift the temporary suspension on importing rice from the country.

The issue came up for discussion during the meeting of commerce minister Anand Sharma and Russian minister of economic development Alexey Valentinovich Ulyukaev on the sidelines of the ASEAN ministerial meeting in Brunei.

Sharma sought resolution over sanitary and phytosanitary (dealing with basic rules for food safety and animal and plant health standards) measures concerning standards of Indian agriculture exports to Russia.

“Sharma particularly raised the issue of temporary suspension of Indian rice export to Russia and sought market access for Indian bovine meat,” an official statement said, adding: “Sharma asked Ulyukaev to review the rice export suspension”.

As per reports, India's rice export to Russia increased five times to $25 million in April-December 2012, compared to $4.5 million in the same period of the previous fiscal before breaks were applied by the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phyto-sanitary Surveillance (FSVPS) on the imports in February.

It placed a temporary ban on import of rice from India following detection of Khapra Beetle in the consignments. Sharma also asked the Russian minister to implement the the MoU on Pharmaceuticals which was signed in 2010, saying that the quality and cost effective Indian generic medicines will greatly benefit Russia.

He also requested Russia for early realisation of the proposed trilateral Customs Union involving Russia, India and Kazakhstan. Both the ministers emphasised on the need to increase economic cooperation to achieve the bilateral trade target of $20 billion by 2015.

In 2012-13, the two-way commerce between the countries stood at $6.52 billion. The Russian minister, meanwhile, raised the issue of protection of Russian investment in India and asked for early conclusion of the Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA).