Wednesday, May 29 2019 12:47

ArmInfo.In the five years of the integration of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the increase in agricultural production exceeded 19%, and the  foreign trade in agricultural products reached a qualitatively new  level.

Stanislav Buben announced this, Director of the  Agro-Industrial Policy Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission  (EEC), at the IV International Conference on Agricultural  Development, Food Security and Nutrition in Eurasia, quoted by the  Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) press service.  "If in 2012 our  integration association, then the Customs Union, was one of the  largest importers of agricultural products, with a negative balance  of more than $ 25 billion, by 2018 imports decreased by 30%, and the  negative balance decreased five times and reached the minimum value  for these years ", Stanislav Buben said.

He stressed that ensuring food security is one of the key issues in  the national agribusiness development programs of the EAEU countries.  Member States meet the needs of the population in grains, vegetable  oils, eggs and sugar with their own resources, and the average level  of supply of agri-food products in 2018 reached 92%.

At the same time, the department director noted that the EAEU  countries continue to import significant quantities of fresh  vegetables and fruits, feed, seeds, technological equipment, that is,  those goods that can be produced within the Union. To solve problems  in this area within the framework of the EAEU, it is necessary to  form a sustainable system for ensuring collective food security. In  this regard, the Commission, together with Member States, has  developed a draft concept of food security of the EAEU. The document  will allow to monitor the state of food security in a unified system  for all EAEU countries. For this purpose it is supposed to establish  indicators on the physical and economic accessibility of food. "If  the need of the Union's population for food within three years is  less than 80%, the Commission, together with the competent  authorities of our countries, will develop a set of measures to form  strategic reserves and ensure guaranteed supplies of scarce  products," Stanislav Buben concluded.  The IV Annual International  Conference on Agriculture Development, Food Security and Nutrition in  Eurasia with the presentation of the "Global Food Policy - 2019"  report was held on May 28, 2019 at the Faculty of Economics of  M.V.  Lomonosov Moscow State University.  The event was organized by the  Eurasian Center for Food Security, the International Research  Institute for Food Policy and the World Bank.