At the request of the South African veterinary service, Rosselkhoznadzor has sent the necessary information on the safety of Russian beef, pork and poultry meat, as well as lists of companies interested in supplying their products and having undergone the relevant examination, the Russian veterinary service said.
Rosselkhoznadzor noted that the South African representatives are expected to send an additional request in the coming days to assess the risks of importing these products.
In turn, the South African side said that the country's producers were also interested in supplying similar animal products to the Russian market.
"In response, the Russian side asked its colleagues to provide official information on the epizootic situation in South Africa, in particular detailed information on the spread of diseases [...] as well as a list of companies interested in supplying each type of animal products," Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement.
The Russian veterinary service noted that the country could import meat products, as well as wild animals of interest to Russian business, from South Africa.
According to Rosselkhoznadzor, the issue of supplying sheep embryos from South Africa to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union was also raised during the consultations. The Russian side proposed a draft veterinary certificate for these types of products back in November 2022 and is still waiting for the approval of the South African veterinary service. The South African partners promised to speed up the procedure of consideration of the document, Rosselkhoznadzor said.
In addition, specialists of the two countries discussed the preparation and signing of a memorandum on scientific and technical cooperation on the basis of research institutes subordinated to Rosselkhoznadzor, as well as the prospects of cooperation in the field of joint development and production of veterinary vaccines.
The Russian side also proposed the use of electronic veterinary certificates in export-import operations. This will simplify and speed up the control of supervised cargoes at the border, the agency said. The South African service promised to consider this proposal.