The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Russia has shown keen interest to import more shrimps from Bangladesh.

The interest was shown by Russian Deputy Minister for Agriculture Vladimir Izmailov while inaugurating the fifth International Exhibition of Seafood Russia-2008 in Crocus Expo Moscow, Russia, from June 4-6.

Vladimir visited Bangladesh pavilion at the three-day fair and expressed his eagerness to import shrimps from Bangladeshi. He urged the Bangladesh exporters to comply with the Food Regulations of the Russian Veterinary Department.

Russian buyers have been importing Bangladesh shrimps significantly since 2006 and the export volume has now stood at 20 million US dollars.

Bangladesh participated in the exhibition in association with Russia Export Promotion Bureau and Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association.

A total of 13 Bangladeshi frozen food exporting companies (BFFEA) participated in the fair, said a message received here from Moscow yesterday.

The BFFEA participants expressed satisfaction over their joining the fair for the first time as they observed growing demand for Bangladeshi shrimps in the Russian markets.

They termed Bangladesh's participation to the Seafood Russia- 2008 fair as a break of access in the Russian market.

The exporters expected that the export volume would be doubled in the current financial year, the message said.

The BFFEA leaders along with the Commercial Counselor of Bangladesh Embassy Moscow had a fruitful meeting with the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RFCCI) and leading Seafood businessmen on June 5.

During the meeting, the impediments on way to shrimp exports to Russia including registration with Russian Veterinary Department, banking facilities for operational letter of credits and visa issuance to Bangladeshi businessmen, were discussed.

The Russian authority assured that the problems would be looked into on priority basis.