Ban on imports of Russian and Belarusian agricultural products is only the first step - Farmers' Parliament

RIGA - Latvia's ban on imports of Russian and Belarusian agricultural products is only the first step to prevent products of aggressor countries from entering Latvia, but everything will be decided by the pending Cabinet of Ministers' regulations that will define a list of agricultural and fodder products that must not be imported from the two countries, representatives of Farmers' Parliament told LETA.

There still remain several bureaucratic steps that the state can take to reduce dependence on the two border countries more quickly, believes Farmers' Parliament.

Farmers Parliament's board chairman Juris Lazdins explains Latvian farmers want to see that the bill banning imports of Russian and Belarusian agricultural products is not a formal amendment, but it will be followed by strategic and clear measures to enforce the ban.

"I would like to emphasize that one change to the law should not be hastily perceived as the only panacea that will immediately solve all the problems and we will no longer see products from Russia and Belarus on the shelves of Latvian stores," said Lazdins.

He believes that the issue needs to be approached in a more complex way. Drafting of the Cabinet regulations must be well thought out and targeted, involving representatives of all the relevant sectors, and great attention must be paid to more active use of various bureaucratic instruments. For example, this is the right moment for customs to step up checks and controls to reduce Russian grain shipments to Latvia, said Lazdins.

Lazdins hopes that politicians will soon achieve that Russian and Belarusian products are banned in the Baltic countries and the entire Europe.

As reported, Saeima on Thursday supported in the final reading a bill banning imports of Russian and Belarusian grain and other agricultural products in Latvia.

The bill, drafted by several ministries, will ban imports of agricultural products and fodder into Latvia from Russia and Belarus, including via third countries.

The bill will come into force once promulgated by President Edgars Rinkevics.

The bill stipulates that the ban will be in force until July 1, 2025 and will be extended in the future if necessary.

According to the definition of the bill, agricultural products that may not be imported in Latvia from Russia and Belarus include the products of the soil, of stockfarming and of fisheries and products of first-stage processing directly related to these products.

The Cabinet of Ministers will have to issue regulations specifying the exact agricultural and fodder products that may not be imported into Latvia from Russia and Belarus.