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Moscow not plans to lift ban on Turkish products in near future

22 February 2017 12:38 (UTC+04:00)
Moscow not plans to lift ban on Turkish products in near future

By Kamila Aliyeva

Although Turkish-Russian relations are currently passing through a normalization process, the Russian side doesn’t intend to lift the sanctions against Turkey soon.

Moscow does not plan to allow import of Turkish products subjected to restrictions in the near future, Head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Russian agricultural watchdog, Sergey Dankvert said on February 22, Sputnik reported.

"The import of the part of the Turkish products has already been allowed while the other part is banned by us and by the government of Russia," Dankvert said in an interview with Izvestia newspaper, adding that there will be no mass opening of access for the Turkish companies to the Russian market.

He highlighted that some of the banned products were still reaching Russian market through third countries, like Mali or Uganda.

Russia imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey in response to the downing of a Russian military aircraft by a Turkish fighter jet in Syria on November 24, 2015. They targeted several sectors of the Turkish economy, banning Russian firms from organizing package tours to Turkey, restricting the operation of Turkish construction companies in Russia, and prohibiting the import of most products including a ban on food and flowers.

In June 2016, following Turkey's apology for the incident, the sides began a reconciliation process, with Russia gradually lifting the economic restrictions.

After the talks between the two countries’ presidents in October 2016, the Russian government decided to allow on its market a number of Turkish agricultural products, including citrus.

The embargo was lifted in respect of fresh and dried oranges and tangerines, fresh apricots, peaches and nectarines, plums and thorns, which make up much of Turkey's fruit exports to Russia.

The imports of tomatoes, apples, strawberries, zucchinis, pumpkins and most poultry products are still banned. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the ban on deliveries from Turkey will be removed in stages, after thorough safety checks.

In the first 6 months of 2016 Turkish-Russian bilateral trade volume increased by 2 percent and reached $12.7 billion compared to $12.9 billion in the same period of 2015.

Turkish exports to Russia fell to $1.8 billion (by 2 percent) while imports fell to $10.9 billion (by 2 percent).

In 2015 Turkish - Russian bilateral trade volume decreased by 23 percent and reached $24 billion compared to $31 billion in 2014.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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