Ministry of Economy of Kazakhstan: there is no trade war with Russia

The Deputy Minister of National Economy of the Republic, Kairbek Uskenbaev, said there is no trade war with Russia in Kazakhstan.

 

"There is no trade war. Russia is the most friendly and close country for us," Interfax cited him as saying. "There is security of the country: if these or other products, from whatever country they may be, do not meet the criteria, which ensure safety, no one wants to consume such products," he said, commenting on the recent increase in seizures of Russian food in Kazakhstan.

 

Vice-Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, Ermek Kosherbaev, also commented on the allegedly existing confrontation between Russia and Kazakhstan. "No war was declared," he said.

 

In his opinion, it is unacceptable to call the withdrawal of products produced in Russia from the shelves 'a war'. "Why not seize the goods, if they do not conform to the relevant indicators?"

 

"Those things that the media declare a trade war are not war. You just need to meet all the requirements and criteria. If there is something found in the product, then you need to do something. Just do not dramatize," he said, adding that in the case of unjustified detention of the goods or their withdrawal, entrepreneurs need to go to court.

The assistant head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Alexey Alexeyenko, told Vestnik Kavkaza that he does not think that there is a kind of 'trade war' between the two countries. "In fact, there's quite a clear question: this is a special case of non-compliance of product to legislation. In this case it is important, and we will conduct an investigation and take actions in respect to this company, if its products do not correspond to Kazakh standards and requirements," he said.In this regard, Alexeenko noted that currently an electronic system is developing, which allows you to effectively prevent attempts at deliveries of substandard goods abroad. "The same rules should be applied throughout the whole territory of the Customs Union, which should govern production, turnover and imports of food products. We need to build a system of certification and trace-ability of products. This will ensure the safety of product circulation throughout the whole territory of the Customs Union," the official said.

 

The assistant head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Alexey Alexeyenko, told Vestnik Kavkaza that he does not think that there is a kind of 'trade war' between the two countries. "In fact, there's quite a clear question: this is a special case of non-compliance of product to legislation. In this case it is important, and we will conduct an investigation and take actions in respect to this company, if its products do not correspond to Kazakh standards and requirements," he said.

In this regard, Alexeenko noted that currently an electronic system is developing, which allows you to effectively prevent attempts at deliveries of substandard goods abroad. "The same rules should be applied throughout the whole territory of the Customs Union, which should govern production, turnover and imports of food products. We need to build a system of certification and trace-ability of products. This will ensure the safety of product circulation throughout the whole territory of the Customs Union," the official said.

 

Academician, a member of the RANEPA Academic Council, PhD Elmira Krylatyh, in her turn, noted that this case and many others are the result of the fact that "the Customs Union is restoring order now". "Before we begin to work actively in the Eurasian Union, we need to organize a lot of things: product quality, assessment of standards and so on. Perhaps, it looked like some kind of threat, but in fact it was nothing like this," she said.

 

The director of the Alternativa Center for Actual Studies, Andrei Chebotarev, agrees that one shouldn't speak about a 'war'. "We are talking about the consequences of the lack of clear agreements within the Customs Union, and now with the Eurasian Economic Union by certain regulatory and regulatory points, controlling the flow of goods into the territory of the countries participating in the union. Things that weren't work out properly manifest themselves in such things," he explained.