Ukraine and Russia are considering the possibility of establishing a joint balance of sugar production and consumption in the two countries for five-year periods.
The press service of the Russian Agriculture Ministry announced this in a statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.
The two countries proposed joint establishment of such a balance during a meeting between Russia's Agriculture Minister Aleksey Gordeev and Ukraine's Agricultural Policy Minister Yurii Melnyk on May 5.
The two sides believe that this will facilitate establishment of predictable conditions for mutual trade and development of agricultural production in Russia and Ukraine.
In general, the two ministers discussed the possibility of forecasting the general balance of trade between the two countries.
Moreover, Gordeev reiterated the need to create a "grain OPEC" during discussion of the grain market.
"It is necessary to have a single international organ for coordinating production and trade in grain," he said.
According to him, the Black Sea region (Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan) is one of the major players on the world grain market.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Agricultural Policy Ministry is forecasting that 480,000 hectares of sugar beet will be planted in Ukraine in 2008.
The Russian grain association initiated creation of a Black Sea grain pool in 2007.
