Q24N (Prensa Latina) The head of the Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision, Sergei Dankvert, said today that western sanctions against Russia opened the way for food imports from Latin America.
Quoted by the Sputnik multimedia portal, Dankvert said in a forum held in Uruguay that countries like Nicaragua or Costa Rica, which never before supplied agricultural products to Moscow, are presently among its vendors, because of the Western reprisals.
Dankvert attended in Montevideo the Russia-Latin America Business Round and Media Forum, which precedes the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, scheduled for June, as every year.
Dankvert, who is also chairman of the intergovernmental commissions for cooperation between Russia and Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay, emphasized that the possibility of selling goods to Russia increased for all countries in the region.
Referring to the prospects of this business management, the expert in this area stressed that ‘what they could not do last year, they will do so more intensely,’ added the senior official.
He explained that difficulties arose in 2015 due to problems in the Russian banking system, which gave no chance to importers to have funds for purchases.
However, he said, the Central Bank of Russia is already attempting to carry out joint operations with its counterparts in Latin America.
Organized by the Russian Congress Fund and the Bering-Bellingshausen Institute, dedicated to studies of the Americas, the event also has the support of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economic Development, Communications and Energy of Russia.
Yesterday, the presidential adviser and chief secretary of the organizing committee of the Economic Forums of St. Petersburg and the East, Anton Kobyakov, said that cooperation with the Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the priorities for Russia.
