Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Calls for Import Restrictions
Domestic | June 4, 2013, Tuesday // 15:19| viewsBulgarian Agriculture Minister Dimitar Grekov has called for restrictions on imports of fruit and vegetables through amendments to customs duty tariffs. Photo by BGNES
Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Dimitar Grekov has called for restrictions on imports of fruit and vegetables through amendments to customs duty tariffs.
"In a week we will have Bulgarian watermelons and the market flooded with imported ones," Grekov told Standard daily, adding that curbing the practice would solve many problems.
His explanations referred to the higher customs duty rates for goods imported from Turkey and other non-EU countries.
"However, the customs duty rate does not only depend on the document but also on the subjective factor- the person who imposes the customs duty," Grekov stated, emphasizing that if ten trucks of watermelons entered Sofia upon the payment of stotinkas' worth of customs duty, or exempt from customs duty, both the state coffers would remain empty and the producers would stay hungry.
Grekov requested a detailed report on the situation at the agencies controlled by the Agriculture Ministry, stressing that they were governed by inexperienced interim directors.
He informed that the ongoing inspection of the financial condition of the Agriculture Ministry suggested that the deficit amounted to BGN 5-7 M, most of it generated by the Agriculture Academy and the Food Safety Agency.
He voiced hopes that the relations between the State Fund Agriculture and the Agriculture Ministry would improve from the current level of mutual exchange of accusations.
Grekov was evasive about changing the director of the State Fund Agriculture, saying that he had proposed cooperative relations with the body.
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