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Poland to Contest Russia's Food Import Ban at WTO

Employees sort and pack apples at RAJPOL company, near Grojec, Poland.

WARSAW — Poland will file a complaint to the World Trade Organization, or WTO, over the Russian ban on Polish exports of fruit and vegetables, Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki said Friday.

"We couldn't file a complaint earlier, because we only received the first official correspondence [about the ban] on Wednesday, before that we only had the information provided by the media," Sawicki was quoted as saying by daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

The announcement follows the European Commission's decision to set up a task force comprised of European agriculture officials to analyze the impact of the Russian ban on EU exports.

On Friday, Polish press agency PAP said Russian officials at the border of Russia's Kaliningrad exclave had refused to let in large cargoes of Polish chicken and Austrian beef, citing the Russian government's directive from Thursday.

See also:

Russia's Food Ban Against EU, U.S. Provides Huge Opportunity for Brazil

Russia's Food Ban Strikes Its Own Consumers

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