Export ban from BiH still in effect, Šarović requests urgent meeting with Russians

The ban on exporting agricultural products from BiH to Russia is still in effect, after Russia closed its borders to our country a few days ago. Russians suspect that the fruit exported by BiH to Russia this year is not domestic, but imported into BiH from other countries, repackaged, and then marketed to Russia as a BiH product, writes Patria.

Something similar happened a few months ago with the export of meat from BiH to Turkey. Although the Turkish side exclusively requested meat raised in BiH, some BiH butchers bought meat in Poland or other countries, repackaged it in BiH, and then sold it to the Turks as a BiH product. That affair was soon discovered. Sanctions for BiH included a temporary suspension of meat exports to Turkey.

Russians suspected that they too could be deceived, as the import of agricultural products from BiH in the first six months of this year reached almost the quantity of the entire previous year's imports from BiH.

In 2015, BiH exported slightly more than nine thousand tons of apples to Russia, and in the first six months of this year, it exported more than five thousand tons of apples. The situation is similar with pears. In 2015, BiH exported about seven thousand tons, and in the first six months, about five thousand tons were exported, which indicates an increase of more than 50 percent.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Mirko Šarović, has requested an urgent meeting between the Russian and BiH sides to resolve the dilemmas and continue exports from BiH to Russia, so that BiH farmers do not suffer additional damage, writes Patria.