The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and Russian Ministry of Agriculture have signed an agreement for cooperation in developing a national plan for development of competition in the agricultural industry and for utilisation of government programmes for agricultural development.

As reported by the anti-monopoly department, the agreement has been signed by the head of the FAS, Igor Artemyev, and the Minister of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev.

Notably, the agreement covers various areas such as price stabilisation in agricultural product markets; raw materials and food products and support levels for income of agricultural producers in the process of carrying out government procurement and price interventions; preparation of proposals for improvements in state agricultural policy; antimonopoly and tariff regulation; and reductions in administrative barriers to competition within the agricultural industry.

“This document defines the legal framework for interactions in the agricultural sphere between the Russian FAS and the Ministry of Agriculture as it pertains to monitoring compliance with antitrust laws, notably, in the course of implementation of the National Plan for Development of Competition in the Agricultural-Industrial Economic Sector. The agreement also regulates procedures for cooperation on provision of relevant information, offering agencies a framework to facilitate data sharing, methodological and export support among themselves in the course of their activities” said Deputy Head of the FAS Andrey Tzyganov, as quoted in a press release.

The agreement was developed according to a roadmap for development of competition between sectors of the Russian economy and transition of certain natural monopolies to competitive market conditions between 2018-2020, as approved by a government decree of 16th August 2018.

Source: Interfax