ASTANA (Reuters) – Kazakh agriculture minister Aidarbek Saparov said on Thursday he hoped that issues with Russian curbs on the import of grain and other agricultural products from Kazakhstan would be resolved within a week.
Saparov, speaking after talks with Russia’s agricultural safety watchdog, said one of his deputies has departed for Moscow where negotiations would continue.
Trade tension between the neighbours has raised concerns because Kazakhstan, whose key export is oil, depends on transit via Russia to sell it on Western markets.
Russian authorities said this week they had received complaints from domestic companies that Kazakhstan was issuing phytosanitary certificates in their names, despite the companies having made no such requests.
Kazakhstan banned imports of wheat from Russia – and all other countries – in August, saying it needed to protect the domestic market.
(Reporting by Tamara Vaal; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Clarence Fernandez)
