No grounds for a faster settlement of wine exports to Russia – expert

At present there are no grounds for a faster settlement of the problem of wine exports to the Russian Federation, director of Programmes, International Relations and Political Analysis at the Independent Analytical and Research Center “Expert-Grup”, Alexandru Oprunenco, told Info-Prim Neo. According to him, the Russian Federation expects now certain compromises on the part of Moldova in the Transnistrian dispute, and the exports will not be resumed until the Chisinau Government makes certain compromises in this respect. At present, there are threats to cease the railway communication between Moldova and Russia and therefore we do not see any optimism in connection with the resumption of exports. Oprunenco thinks that at present we are witnessing an “imitation” of activity of the Moldovan-Russian joint commission for economic cooperation. “I think that the resumption of the exports does not depend on Oniscenco’s and Mironescu’s goodwill”, Oprunenco said, mentioning that the Moldovans could display many plans of resuming the exports, but not having any practical result. Only in case of serious improvements related to the policy, we could speak about the exports’ resumption even within one day, without the plans of “Moldova-Vin”, the expert emphasized. Requested to comment on the recently reported cases of intoxication with forged vodka among Russian consumers, Alexandru Oprunenco, stated that this facts is not connected with the cessation of Moldovan wine exports. He is sure that the Russian vagrants and poor people have never consumed Moldovan dry or semisweet wines and that “if Russians want to get drunk they drink vodka not Moldovan or Georgian wine”. Nevertheless, he does not exclude the fact that these reportages could have been triggered by the Russian importers that had supported losses as a result of ceasing the wine imports. In the economist Veaceslav Ionita’s opinion, the halt of wine exports to the Russian Federation is not connected with the counterfeit vodka. Besides the problem they have with Moldova, the Russians wish also to show that the reform on the alcohol market is necessary, and bringing of these issues in public view is intended to show that they are right when they toughen the conditions on the alcohol market, the cited source informs. At the same time, he says that the most probably the Moldovan wines will return to the Russia’s market not sooner than next year. The decision to stop the wines is pure politics and. Hence, we should expect another political decision to resume exports”, Ionita says. Moreover, he considers that this process could be accelerated by the certain American companies’ recent interest in purchasing assets from the Moldovan winemaking industry. According to the quoted source, as the Russia’s market is closed, and the owners from the Moldovan winemaking industry can not use the enterprises to full capacities, it appears the opportunity to sell the factories to the American side. Ionita considers that the embargo could be increased, because the Russians would not like to lose the influence on Moldova by the means of control in the winemaking industry. “The American interest in the Moldovan factories made the Russians to understand that the embargo game is over”, the analyst says. Prime deputy minister Zinaida Grecianii stated at the end of last week that the experts from the “Moldova-Vin” Agro-Industrial Agency will leave for Moscow, at the Russia’s sanitary Service “Rospotrebnadzor”, to discuss, at technical level, the possibilities of resuming the Moldovan wine exports to Russia’s markets. Subsequently, a delegation of the “Rospotrebnadzor” Service will come to Chisinau to work with the real winemaking enterprises that could ensure the achievement of requested quality standards. According to the last agreements with the Russian officials, prime deputy minister mentioned that, most probably, the next meeting of the Moldovan-Russian joint Commission will be held on November 27, in Moscow. Just then, the conditions and plans of actions regarding the economic cooperation between Moldova and Russia will be approved, and a decision favorable for both sides taken, said Zinaida Greceanii, cited by Info-Prim Neo. The embargo on the Moldovan wine import was imposed by Moscow on 27 March 2006.