On 17 January, the head of the Department of Agro-industrial Complex of the Autonomous Territory of Gagauzia, Serghei Ibrishim, sent a request to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov. In the letter, he asks for “humanitarian aid” from the Russian Federation to support the economic agents of his region, as ziarulnational.md reports.
In particular, Ibryshim expresses his request for fertilisers from Russia through the company Eurochem. According to him, at the moment, 40 thousand hectares of winter crops are sown in Gagauzia, which require 100 kilograms of fertilisers per hectare.
At the same time, in his appeal to Minister Lavrov, Ibrishim complains about the restrictions on the export of fruits, juices and wines from the territory of Gagauzia to the Russian market. This is due to the fact that Moldova has withdrawn from the parliamentary membership of the Assembly of the Community of Independent States. For this reason, the official from Comrat asks for the cancellation of excises and customs duties only for the products of economic agents from the Autonomous Territory of Gagauzia.
It is worth mentioning that Russia has used the embargo against Moldovan products several times, especially when Moldova was approaching the European Union.
While Russia rejects Moldovan products, more and more local fruits and vegetables are entering the EU market. For example, in the first ten months of 2023, exports of Moldovan cherries to the EU market increased about 35 times, apples 11 times, and plums about twice as much as in 2021.
