Milk producers and farmers in the Republika Srpska (RS) have urged the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina to react to a decision by the Croatian agriculture ministry to ban imports of sterilised milk produced in the Bosnian Serb entity, and officials have said that negotiations will be conducted in Zagreb over the next few days, the Banja Luka based daily Nezavisne Novine reported on Monday.
RS Agriculture Minister Miroslav Milovanovic confirmed that a delegation of BH ministers would visit Croatia in the next few days to discuss the problem.
"The problem is complex and could have an impact on relations with Croatia, but we will do what we can to prevent this from occurring. We respect Croatian and EU legislation about the quality of products but we have our doubts about the way this (ban on exports) has come about", Milovanovic told the daily.
The Croatian agriculture ministry ordered that a shipment of UHT sterilised milk imported from the Bosnian entity be sent back and destroyed. RS Agriculture Ministry official Radmila Cojo said this decision was unfounded and unlawful.
Bosnian Serb milk producers want their government to impose reciprocal measures to ban milk imports from Croatia.
