ZAGREB, July 1, 2019 – The free export of Croatian meat products to Ukraine is possible as of July 1, the Agriculture Ministry has reported.
“After several rounds of talks and in light of the fact that Ukraine underwent a long process of adjusting its import rules with international standards, during a general assembly of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in Paris this year, we finally managed to complete the adjustment of criteria contained in the international veterinary certificate. As of today, there are no more veterinary sanitary obstacles to the export of Croatian meat products to Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement.
Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić said that this was a result of the long-standing work of ministry staff who had proven that Croatia had a well-developed system of food safety and that it was a safe country in terms of food exports.
A few years ago, Croatian food companies expressed interest in exporting their products to Ukraine, but Ukrainian import rules were not in line with international standards set by the OIE.
The Agriculture Ministry therefore launched negotiations on veterinary sanitary conditions, basing its position on international standards and equivalence whereby the system of control in force in the EU and Croatia provides the same level of safety to Ukraine as well, the ministry said.
It underlined the good will on the part of Ukraine, which despite the fact that it has been negotiating the harmonisation of all veterinary sanitary certificates for exports to Ukraine from EU member-countries with the European Commission, agreed to simultaneously conduct bilateral negotiations with Croatia to expedite the process and enable Croatian producers to access the Ukrainian market.
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