Russia ends US poultry import ban
Russia is to lift its ban on US poultry imports from April 15, according to the country’s agriculture ministry. The move ends a month of wrangling over the issue that has served to strain the relationship between the two countries. Agriculture minister Alexei Gordeyev said Russian veterinary officials had agreed to lift the ban after the US met safety issues outlined on March 31.
The decision came less than a day after President Bush called on Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the dispute. Russian first imposed the ban on March 10 over health concerns, a move that coincided with Washington's decision to apply significant tariffs on steel imports into the US, although neither side has publicly linked the two events. Russia, the biggest buyer of US chicken and turkey meat, halted imports over worries about antibiotics used in US poultry production and salmonella contamination.
US officials meanwhile denied the US was in breach of standards and claimed the ban was designed to protect domestic producers. Poultry exports to Russia are big business, involving some 37 US states who last year exported more than one million tons of poultry meat worth $640 million to the country.
By resolving the dispute the two sides have removed an irritant in relations that threatened to overshadow a Putin-Bush summit in Moscow in six weeks' time. American trade officials had also said the poultry ban was making it more difficult to negotiate Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization, which Putin has made a key priority.
