Russia, Poland Sign Deal to Lift Meat Ban
MOSCOW - Russia and Poland on Wednesday signed a memorandum on lifting a ban on imports of meat from Poland which has soured Moscow's relations with the European Union for more than two years, a farm ministry spokesman said.
20 December 2007
2 minute read
"The memorandum has been signed as planned," the spokesman said. Last week, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said the ban would be kept on imports of poultry after an outbreak of bird flu in Poland.
"This is a technical question and as soon as the problem is solved, poultry imports will resume. It should not worry Warsaw too much, as Poland has never been a big poultry meat supplier to Russia," the spokesman said.
The election of a new Polish government headed by liberal Donald Tusk has eased friction that characterised ties between Warsaw and Moscow under his predecessor, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Dec. 7 the two sides were "on the right track" towards resolving their differences in a dispute that had led Poland to block talks on a new strategic partnership pact between the EU and Russia.
