"Birthplace of the Olympic games, the earth of the heroes of ancient Greek legends of Greece on the modern world country spiritually and mentally close to Russia. We traditionally cooperate in the field of culture, the arts, develop student exchange in the framework of the youth educational programs. But as you know the world is driven by Economics. The main directions in which the Greek side is willing to develop cooperation with Russia is a marine tourism, shipping, shipbuilding and ship repair, as well as agriculture and high technology.

In parts of the agricultural sector we have good prospects of establishing joint ventures for import substitution. We are talking about fish of aquaculture products, meat, dairy processing, production of berries, fruit, and, of course, the traditional juices and wines. Greece - an agricultural country, and current sanctions severely damage its economy. Our colleagues are asking for the lifting of sanctions, at least those commodity codes that can be imported in the framework of the Russian-Greek enterprises. For example – aquaculture-grown fish to be able to import into Russia and to recycle at our facility. As an example of cooperation between the regions, cooperatives Nizhny Novgorod region and the district of Thessaly plan to develop the production of an entire line of dairy products on the Russian territory under the Greek brand. Same with meat and meat products. This cooperation can be seen as pilot projects in the field of organic agriculture.

In Russia today, much attention is paid to safeguarding the health of the nation. Now the state Duma is being finalized for the second reading of the iconic the long-awaited breakthrough for our agricultural producers, the bill "On organic production". The government and the lawmakers are seriously concerned about the health of our citizens, our future generations. With the adoption of this law will create legal conditions for development of organic agriculture in Russia.

Organic is a modern global health saving trend, organic food is produced without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, growth regulators, artificial food additives, and genetically modified foods. In many countries today, the shortage of land, where the land did not receive agrochemicals and may be suitable for introduction as organic, this is a tremendous opportunity for our countries and for Russia and for Greece.

Organic agriculture is practiced by 179 countries, of which 87 countries have special laws in this field. The laws on organic agriculture adopted in Kazakhstan, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia. In our country, regional laws have been adopted in the Ulyanovsk region, Voronezh region and Krasnodar Krai. Certainly is a breakthrough in the quality and culture of food, avoiding harmful hormones and antibiotics in aquaculture from Asia – from China and Vietnam, avoiding GMO products, and other factors of harm and health risk. I will emphasize some basic principles of organic production:

• limiting the use of agrochemicals, pesticides, antibiotics, growth stimulants and animal feed, hormonal drugs;
• non-use of genetically modified and transgenic organisms and products containing genetically modified and transgenic organisms;
• the non-use of ionizing radiation for the treatment products;
• failure to use the technique of embryo transfer, cloning and genetic engineering techniques.

The bill we intend to take this year, probably before the end of this spring session.

The Greek side looks forward to working and cooperation of our shipyards in terms of shipbuilding and ship repair. On the one hand, Russia has set ambitious goals for the construction of a large number of ships to 2030 in their domestic shipyards. But on the other, and cooperation can also be beneficial and give good result, if the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean sea will be able to receive high quality service at competitive prices. Plans to discuss the formation of joint ventures in ship repair. Good basis of our countries for the development of cruise tourism and leisure. Historical routes for tourists to the Holy mountain, Meteor, and other attractions always popular with tourists. Greece shows interest in purchases from Russia of modern hydrofoils. Therefore, we need to combine efforts to cooperate in Maritime activities, to create a joint venture, to reach agreement in this area.

Russia and Greece is a marine country. We share a mission to protect our Orthodox civilization. Both sides wish to cooperate. The next logical step and help at this stage of history is the establishment of Sea trade Union of Russia-Greece, in which you can bring together on mutually beneficial terms to develop all of the above identified areas. Special conditions of economic regimes to consolidate in bilateral regulation. This is the key to winning over sanctions and other positive transformations in the international arena".

Source: http://www.morvesti.ru/detail.php?ID=71802

Tags: Sea policy