The meeting participants discussed the spread of African swine fever (ASF) in Russia. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 65 ASF outbreaks have been reported so far.
The Government will form a Headquarters for the Prevention of ASF Contamination and Spread in Russia, to be headed by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. The headquarters will include representatives of the corresponding federal and regional executive bodies, research organisations and industry associations. Following the meeting, it was decided that the headquarters will go into operation in August. The implementation of the instructions issued by the President and the Government regarding infrastructure development in the fishing industry was also discussed at the meeting. In particular, the commission discussed the project to create a fish processing cluster with a modern port infrastructure and refrigeration capacity in the Primorye Territory.
The meeting participants noted several advantages of creating a cluster in the Primorye Territory, including an adequate resource base, a developed fishing industry, the availability of a proper transport and logistics infrastructure, major ports, railway hubs and direct access to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In addition, the meeting participants adopted a number of decisions and recommendations regarding the selection of an independent international financial consultant to evaluate this project and identify co-investors. Mr Dvorkovich instructed the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East to include this project in the federal targeted programme of the socio-economic development of the Russian Far East and the Baikal Region.
The participants also considered establishing a mechanism to monitor global prices for aquatic bioresources and products in order to be able to reliably determine their customs value during export. They noted the need for a thinktank to collect, analyse and monitor information on the world prices for aquatic bioresources and products and discussed proposals regarding assessment methods and research organisations that could be used to create such a centre.
The commission proposed further considering the proposals by the federal executive bodies by the Government Analytical Centre with the involvement of leading research organisations, industry and related public organisations.
