Egypt and Russia signed an agreement a few days ago binding the Russian side to send technical quality certificates to the Egyptian agricultural quarantine authorities before any quantity of wheat is shipped to Egypt. The aim is to prevent any manipulation by the companies importing wheat from Russia. Official sources at the Ministry of Agriculture told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the agreement does not change the specifications for importing wheat from abroad, but it aims to guarantee as much control as possible on the imports of Russian wheat. According to the sources, the two states have agreed that Russian agricultural quarantine authorities shall be committed to providing their Egyptian counterparts with plant health certificates as well as the certificate of an exam carried out by the department for grain quality in Russia. These certificates, though, shall have to be delivered to the Egyptian authorities before the shipment arrives in Egypt so that they are not counterfeited. Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Andrei Nesterenko, declared yesterday that Egypt and Russia are interested in increasing the supply of Russian grains to Egypt. He added that health officials from Russia and Egypt held talks in Cairo on this issue and reached technical agreements to avoid what happened with the shipment of wheat exported to Egypt. Meanwhile, the SGS, the authority examining shipments, declared on Thursday that the SGS control certificates used by the Egyptian Traders Company, which imported the latest shipment of wheat, were counterfeited. Investigations are now being carried out by the Public Prosecutor. For his part, Ashraf Attal, president of the Egyptian Traders Company and of the league of grain and fodder traders, declared yesterday that the investigations into counterfeited import certifications were pointless, as the shipment is currently being re-exported.
