RJBC Deputy Chairman Mr. V. A. Kononenko Meets Secretary General of Jordan Ministry of Agriculture HE Dr. Radi A. Tarawneh

RJBC Deputy Chairman Mr. V. A. Kononenko, Secretary General of Jordan Ministry of Agriculture HE Dr. Radi A. Tarawneh

On 17^th April 2012 at the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture Deputy Chairman of the Russian-Jordanian Business Council (RJBC) Mr. Valeriy Kononenko had a business meeting with Secretary General of the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture HE Dr. Radi A. Tarawneh.

To begin with, the negotiators summed up a joint session of the previous day (16^th April 2012), which took place at the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture as well and dealt with a forthcoming 3^rd Arab Exhibition (Arabia-EXPO 2013) planned to be held from 26^th to 28^th June 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The following representatives from the Russian side took part in the meeting: Deputy Director of the Russian-Arab Business Council and Director General of the Arabia-Expo Exhibition Mr. V. Lutsenko, Deputy Chairman of the Russian-Jordanian Business Council Mr. V. A. Kononenko and a representative of the Russian Federation Embassy in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Mr. Y.A. Bakhvalov. The Jordanian side was represented by: Secretary General of the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture HE Dr. Radi A. Tarawneh, Chief of the General Association of Jordanian Farmers HE Mr. Odeh Al-Rawashdeh, a representative of the Jordan Chamber of Industry HE Mr. Mohammed Al-Abdullat, Director of the Private Sector Department of the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture HE Mr. Mohammed Al-Rosan, General Manager of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) HE Mr. Ayman Sabri and other officials of the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture and the Jordan Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

After that, HE Dr. Radi A. Tarawneh and Mr. V. Kononenko discussed the matters concerning the arrangements for a Jordanian delegation’s visit to Russia in the third quarter of 2012. The Delegation composed of the leaders and officials of the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture, the Customs Administration and the Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruits and Vegetables (JEPA) is going to come to Russia with the purpose of a firsthand acquaintance with the provided by the Russian side to Jordan trade rules and procedures in force.

Then, the Parties at the talks laboured a point about the agricultural investment opportunities for Jordan in Russia and discussed the following list of items planned to be under consideration during the forthcoming official Jordanian Delegation’s visit to Russia:

- granting to Jordan a preferential regime on solving the questions about the export customs duties on agricultural products in winter time from 1^st November to 1^st May and the customs discounts during the rest of the year, i.e. from 1^st May to 1^st November;

- adherence by the Russian party to the base prices for agricultural commodities; these base prices will be provided monthly by the Jordan Ministry of Agriculture in accordance with the Amman Central Exchange prices for vegetables and fruits;

- acceptance of prices for Jordan goods as uniform prices at all the ground and air border check-points of the Russian Federation on condition that cargo documents are processed directly in a Russia’s territory without transporting via third countries (direct air transportation, a surface or air transit);

- adherence by Jordan to the effective Russian technical regulations and rules guaranteeing safety and product quality, fulfillment of the requirements in force, compliance of the provided sanitary certificates and quality certificates for agricultural production with the operating regulations and requirements for the agricultural commodities trade;

- adoption of a type A customs declaration for vegetables and fruits cargoes, or another type of a customs declaration under the agreement of both parties, etc.

Finally, the meeting covered the issues of feasible participation of the JEPA’s members in the autumn agricultural exhibition, which is going to take place in Moscow in October 2012.