Egypt, Russia to start talks to replace Turkish agriculture goods

Egypt is looking to increase its agricultural exports to Russia, including citrus products, seeking an opportunity to take advantage of Moscow’s restrictions on Turkish imports, the Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor announced Friday.

Rosselkhoznadzor further said Moscow is interested to study the Egyptian offer soon. So far, Moscow and Cairo have agreed to start within the coming week negotiations between Rosselkhoznadzor and its Egyptian counterpart, the Russian watchdog noted.

Last week, Russia, one of Turkey’s primary trading partners, approved economic sanctions against Turkey starting January 1 in retaliation for the downing of a Russian fighter plane near the Syrian-Turkish border on November 24.

The sanctions prohibit Russia from importing a list of agricultural products from Turkey including fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, grapes, apricots and apples, as well as chicken products and salt.