Turkey is exploring the possibility of opening its cattle market for Ukraine

Submitted by bashun on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 11:30

The Ukrainian Stock Breeders Association continues the cycle of publications on the opening of the Turkish cattle market of live weight and beef meat for Ukraine.

When Turkish companies visited Ukraine on the Ukrainian Stock Breeders Association’s initiative, they inspected the production processes and were convinced of the availability of potential partners - Ukrainian households. The next step in the Ukrainian-Turkish relations was the official confirmation of the Turkish authorities' readiness to open their market for the export of live cattle and meat from Ukraine.

In view of this, the Turkish authorities sent to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection a detailed questionnaire on the export of beef to Turkey. It consists of 13 sections, which include detailed information on the following issues: information about Ukraine, its geographical aspects, legislation, veterinary science, the structure of competent authorities and their management system, measures to ensure chemical safety of food, measures to ensure microbiological safety of food products, combating zoonotic disease, preventing food poisoning, monitoring residual material, registering farms, identifying animals, monitoring the movement animal certification, food safety standards, animal population. In addition, the Turkish authorities want to get the most detailed data in the form of summary tables on individual issues.

The final analysis and report, which will form the basis of the questionnaire, were entrusted to prepare the structural divisions of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection. Also, in the framework of obtaining information for the questionnaire, the research institute conducted special laboratory studies.

The preparation process lasted several months and as of today the answers for the questionnaire are already fully prepared.

After this document is translated into a foreign language, the Ukrainian side will send an official letter to the competent authorities of Turkey (such as the Ministry of Agriculture of Turkey) and add materials prepared for the questionnaire to it.

The next step will be to provide Turkey with a documentary assessment of our materials. The Turkish side does not have a legally established time limit for examining documents. It can last even a few months.

After that, the Turkish delegation will come again to Ukraine. This stage is not mandatory, but as practice shows, a potential partner almost always comes with an audit. As a result of the visit, the Turkish authorities will decide whether Ukraine meets their requirements, and whether the Ukrainian food safety control system is effective and efficient. After that, Ukraine will receive the right to export cattle of live weight and beef meat.

It is also possible that the Turkish side will personally check every Ukrainian enterprise that will receive the right of export. Today, the Turkish company, which became a member of the Ukrainian Stock Breeders Association and joined the team of Ukrainian livestock enterprises, has already announced compliance with sanitary and epidemiological requirements, subject to compliance with which cooperation issues will be implemented.

The final stage is the signing of a bilateral agreement between Ukraine and Turkey, respectively, for the export and import of products. The final document is a certificate. The form of the certificate is officially established, it agrees by the parties. On the Turkish side, the document is signed by a competent authority such as the Ministry of Agriculture of Turkey, and from Ukraine the authorized body is the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in the person of the Chief State Inspector of Veterinary Medicine, the Director of the Food Safety and Veterinary Medicine Department of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection.

After that, the Turkish market will be open for Ukraine. This is the ultimate goal, over which the Ukrainian Stock Breeders Association has been working for more than one month. We are constantly in touch with the Turkish side and are working hard to accelerate the export permit.

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