Kazakhstan hopes to resolve agricultural trade tension with Russia within a week

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ASTANA (Reuters) -Kazakh agriculture minister Aidarbek Saparov said on Thursday he hoped that issues with Russian curbs on the import of grain and other agricultural products from Kazakhstan would be resolved within a week.

Saparov, speaking after talks with Russia’s agricultural safety watchdog, said one of his deputies has departed for Moscow where negotiations would continue.

Trade tension between the neighbours has raised concerns because Kazakhstan, whose key export is oil, depends on transit via Russia to sell it on Western markets.

Russian authorities said this week they had received complaints from domestic companies that Kazakhstan was issuing phytosanitary certificates in their names, despite the companies having made no such requests.

The Kazakh agriculture ministry replied on Thursday by calling Moscow’s accusations unfounded and saying it could not be held liable for the actions of fraudulent companies and there were similar cases with Russian exports to Kazakhstan.

The matter needed to be resolved at the level of the Eurasian Economic Union, a trade bloc led by Russia, the Kazakh ministry said in a statement.

Kazakhstan banned imports of wheat from Russia – and all other countries – in August, saying it needed to protect the domestic market.

(Reporting by Tamara Vaal; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Clarence Fernandez and Christina Fincher)