Extending the import ban on a number of goods, signing the Agreement on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Excerpts from Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks:
Government meeting
Yesterday, the President signed the Executive Order “On Extending Certain Special Economic Measures in the Interest of Ensuring the Security of the Russian Federation”. I have issued a Government resolution approving the list of goods subject to the one-year extension of the import ban until 5 August 2016. In fact, the list remains the same, except for certain items related to biomaterials. It still includes animal products, including beef, pork, meat by-products, fish and shellfish, milk and dairy products, vegetables, sausages and so on.
For obvious reasons, we took these decisions a year ago and are extending them in response to recent decisions of the European Union and a number of other states. We didn’t start this sanctions standoff, and mutual efforts are needed to put an end to it. Unfortunately, we have not seen any positive changes from these states so far.
But our actions here are based primarily on economic rather than political considerations.
Our farmers asked us to keep the embargo on these types of products in place as long as possible. When we were forced to respond by imposing restrictive measures almost a year ago, the step was quite difficult and painful for us, as we were quite aware of the subsequent surge in food prices. At the same time, it gave momentum to the entire agriculture industry.
Today, agriculture is developing quite rapidly with the help of targeted government support and the import restrictions, among other things. Livestock breeding is steadily growing. With the introduction of import restrictions, Russian producers gained unique opportunities to sell their goods, and their presence in retail chains grew. But we need to rapidly develop other problem areas. The main task remains the same: to support our farmers in the current economic situation and do everything to make sure Russian agriculture can provide food independence for all citizens.
This decision also takes into account the seasonal cycles of agricultural production. I hope that agricultural enterprises will take advantage of these opportunities.
However, this list is not permanent and can be changed for a number of reasons, including progress in relations with our European partners and partners from a number of other countries.
Today, we will also consider the issue of Russia’s signing the Agreement on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. This bank was established at the initiative of our Chinese partners to finance infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific Region. Russia’s participation in the infrastructure bank, in one of the leading roles, is completely in our interests. This new financial institution will increase our companies’ access to credit. In addition, the Russian Far East may become one of the bank’s areas of responsibility. In practice, this means the possibility of securing low-cost financing and making use of the bank’s financial guarantees and technical support. I hope this will contribute to the development of our Far East.
