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Armen Harutyunyan, Director of the Agricultural Policy Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission, spoke about the emerging common market for organic products in the Eurasian Economic Union as part of the panel discussion Strategy for Organic Produce Development, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation at the venue of the Golden Fall Russian Agricultural Exhibition.

The EEC representative said that the heads of government of the Union countries had approved a relevant road map that included drafting an international treaty within the EAEU. This document will determine the principles of free movement of organic products, as well as approaches to regulating imports of such products from third countries into the common market of the EAEU, uniform requirements to the production, certification and labeling of organic products, general parameters of the information system for circulation of organic products and their statistical accounting.

The draft agreement was developed by the EEC jointly with the authorized bodies of Member States, and its provisions comply with the general goals and requirements of the Codex Alimentarius CAC/GL 32-1999 Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labeling and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods. Internal coordination of the draft agreement is now being finalized, and the document will soon be ready for signing.

Armen Harutyunyan noted intensive organic produce development in the Union States in line with the global trends. That requires incentive measures to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is created, including a developed network of certification bodies and electronic resources for the needs of manufacturers.

“It is obvious that the Union has the potential to increase its organic production, and we need to work on this within a comprehensive public policy for the development of organic farming. Once a common market is created within the EAEU, it will give additional impetus to the development of the Union's organic sector,” the EEC representative emphasized.

The Director of the EEC Department told about the Review of International Experience in Government Support for the Development of Organic Farming, prepared by the Commission experts and containing information on trends and prospects for the global market for organic products, measures taken to develop the sector in the leading producer countries and EAEU States, as well as recommendations to the Union countries on government support to this sector of agriculture.

Armen Harutyunyan emphasized the importance of training qualified personnel in this area and proposed organizing a joint educational course for the EAEU states on the organic production within the 2021 Memorandum on the Development of Interaction between the Union States in the Field of Training Personnel For Industry and the Agricultural Sector.

“Today, the Commission is pleased to note that a number of tools proposed in the Review to support the development of organic production are included in strategic national documents,” concluded Armen Harutyunyan.