U.S., Russia finally chicken out

WASHINGTON

U.S. and Russian officials resolved the details of a long-running dispute over poultry trade, opening the door to a resumption of exports to a key U.S. market, authorities said April 4.

"This is an important breakthrough involving our largest poultry export market," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said in a statement. "We now can look to expanding our commercial, regulatory and scientific cooperation in agriculture with the Russian Federation."

Separately, officials said the United States and Ukraine signed a protocol, which ended a 16-month ban on U.S. poultry exports to Kiev, based on new inspection standards.

The dispute with Moscow centered on new veterinary standards agreed to last year but not fully implemented because of technical differences.

The new agreement will enable inspections of U.S. poultry processing facilities by the Russian Veterinary Service to resume immediately, according to the Agriculture Department.

The agreement was concluded in Moscow by Minister of Agriculture Alexei Gordeyev and USDA Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services J.B. Penn.

Until the dispute, some 40 percent of U.S. poultry production, worth $600 million to $800 million a year, was sold to the Russian market, where the imported poultry has been referred to as "Bush thighs" since President George Bush Sr. first sent them to the U.S.S.R.

Russia imported about 1.2 million tons of poultry in 2001, of which more than 80 percent was supplied by the United States.

The United States exported poultry and poultry products worth $11 million to Ukraine in 2001, the last year that market was open.