Russia's Agriculture Ministry not ruling out establishing sites in Central African Republic for jointly testing plant varieties, hybrids

MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Russia's Agriculture Ministry considers it possible to establish sites in the Central African Republic (CAR) for jointly testing varieties and hybrids of agricultural crops such as corn, sorghum, and potatoes, the ministry said following a meeting between Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut and CAR Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Guismala Hamza.

Lut said that Russia sees great potential for collaborating in the area of selection and seed production.

Lut also said that Russia sees the CAR as an important partner in the region. Russia shipped 50,000 tonnes of wheat to the country as humanitarian aid a year ago upon the instructions of Russia's president.

The meeting participants also touched upon "the significant prospects for boosting trade turnover of agricultural products between the countries", which could be facilitated, among other means, by establishing interaction between supervisory agencies in the area of veterinary and phytosanitary oversight. Another area of partnership would be training students from the CAR in Russian agricultural universities. Russia is ready to increase quotas for training if necessary, according to the report.

The respective parties signed a memorandum of understanding in the area of agriculture upon conclusion of the meeting. The memorandum's goal is to solidify trade, economic, as well as scientific and technical cooperation, and to identify practical steps for further developing agricultural collaboration between the two countries.