Swiss authorities claim they will meet demands from Russia's agricultural watchdog to provide the right documentation for produce exports, after concerns were raised over the country's sharp rise in shipments since an embargo was placed on EU-grown agricultural goods.

Photo Joeri Cornille, via Flickr Creative Commons

Russia suspects some kind of bypass of the EU-wide ban on fresh produce that affects all 28 member states, claiming exports on certain categories have significantly increased from Switzerland, which is not part of the EU but is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

The Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) told www.freshfruitportal.com that the authorities are doing everything possible to meet the demands from Russia and are keen to allay suspicions the politically neutral nation is involved in any kind of gray market.

Although the Swiss authorities said they wouldn’t openly discuss in-depth details of the case, a spokesman did confirm representatives of the Swiss Embassy in Moscow took part in a meeting with 'a good atmosphere' to discuss the problem.

"For the moment I can only say that representatives of the Russian authorities monitoring agricultural products had a meeting on Tuesday November 25, 2014 with representatives of the Swiss Embassy to ensure that Switzerland is not used to circumvent the Russian sanctions on food products,” an FOAG spokesman told www.freshfruitportal.com.

"The Russian authorities wish to obtain figures on the Swiss food exports to Russia. This request will be forwarded to the services responsible."

Earlier this week, Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor threatened "protective restrictive measures" against Swiss produce imports unless the country did not provide appropriate documentation within 10 days to justify the increase.

Readers can click here for more stories relating to Russia's produce ban.

www.freshfruitportal.com