020718 Russia-U.S. Fail to Resolve Poultry Trade DisputeJuly 10, 2002Moscow - A U.S. delegation failed to reach a new agreement on poultry imports to Russia and is leaving the country to obtain further information requested by Moscow, the U.S. Embassy. An embassy spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were remaining issues "to clarify that require additional information from our side." He declined to name specifics. The Russian Agriculture Ministry has warned that it will ban poultry imports from the United States beginning Aug. 1 without new veterinary certificates, saying previous certificates will only be accepted until July 31. Washington has lobbied for the deadline to be pushed back to Oct. 1. The Russian government imposed a ban on U.S. poultry imports in March, citing concerns about sanitary conditions at U.S. plants and cases of salmonella in imported chicken. The ban was lifted a month later, after the United States promised to tighten export controls, but new bureaucratic hurdles have delayed a full resumption of imports. The embassy spokesman called the talks between the two sides "productive" and said "considerable progress" had been made toward agreeing on the new certificates. Prior to the dispute, U.S. producers in 38 states sent dlrs 600 million to dlrs 700 million worth of poultry to Russia each year.
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