The minister emphasized that all sanctions, including national ones, must be as effective as possible. In Valaiņš’ opinion, the work started by the Minister of Government, Agriculture and Transport should be continued in order to bring these issues to the European level as much as possible.
“If we want to achieve an effective result, we must ensure that such sanctions are implemented throughout the EU,” said the politician.
Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (JV) has issued a resolution to gather information on cereal imports from Russia. The Prime Minister indicated that an assessment should be awaited regarding the amount of grain that currently enters Latvia from Russia, whether it is Ukrainian grain as well, and what the losses are.
However, it is not just a matter of money, Siliņa emphasized, adding that Latvia, together with other EU member states, has committed to supplying food to African countries.
At the same time, the Prime Minister noted that the Cabinet of Ministers has decided on the position of the Minister of Agriculture at the EU meeting, which expresses Latvia’s support for the Russian grain import ban.
It has already been reported that last year, compared to 2022, 200,000 tons more food grains were imported from Russia to Latvia, Director of the Border Control Department of the Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) Iveta Šice-Trėde told LETA.
She pointed out that in 2023, more than 535,000 tons of cereal products were imported from Russia to the European Union (EU) through Latvian border checkpoints, including 122,000 tons imported in December. Thus, the volume of cereal products imported from Russia is almost 200,000 tons higher than a year ago, when 337,000 tons of cereal products were imported from Russia to the EU.
At the same time, the PVD representative added that in 2023, no inappropriate shipments were found in this product group.
She reminded that PVD does not have information on how many of the imported cereal products originally intended for Latvian recipients remained in Latvia and how many were exported to other EU countries.
It has already been announced that, according to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture (ZM), Latvia is the second largest importer of Russian agricultural and food products in the European Union (EU) after Spain.
2024-01-08 17:10:54
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