EU Trade Official Hopes for Swift Talks

The European Union's trade commissioner said Friday he hopes trilateral talks on Russia's months-long ban on meat from Poland will open with a "minimum of delay."

Peter Mandelson, on a two-day visit to Poland, said he wanted to help Poland to resolve its dispute with Russia quickly because it was also affecting the wider EU. Poland has been a member of the bloc since 2004.

He said the EU has proposed trilateral talks and is awaiting an answer from Warsaw and Moscow.

"I hope they will agree," Mandelson told reporters. "If so, I think this can be organized with a minimum of delay."

In November, Moscow imposed a ban on imports of meat and some other foods from Poland, saying they were substandard.

Commentators in Poland viewed the ban as retaliation for Warsaw's stance in Ukraine's presidential elections in 2004, in which it supported pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko against Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovych.

Mandelson met in Warsaw with Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga, Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak and other officials.

Source:chron.com