DUSHANBE, May 7, 2001, Asia-Plus — On Thursday May 6, the Foreign Ministry of Tajikistan handed over a note to the Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Yuri Popov over the ban put by Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare on import of dried fruits from Tajikistan following a polio outbreak reported in Tajikistan.
Davlat Nazriyev, a spokesman for the Tajik MFA, says Tajikistan hopes for Moscow’s assistance in lifting the ban.
According to data of the Ministry of Health (MoH) of May 5, 32 cases of polio have been detected in ten districts of Khatlon province and in the outskirts of Dushanbe, he said. “With support from the World Health Organization (WHO), a national polio immunization campaign was launched in the country in early May and it will cover more than 1.1 million children until June 5,” said Nazriyev, “Patients diagnosed with polio are on the way to recovery.”
He added that dried fruits exported to Russia were produced mainly in northern Tajikistan, where no case of polio has been detected to this day. Moreover, the dried fruits exported to Russia were produced last year, when there was no any case of polio in the country, however; these dried fruits are also banned in Russia, Nazriyev said, adding that this year, the season of production of dried fruit has not yet started in Tajikistan.
Ambulance rooms have been organized at all border crossing checkpoints across Tajikistan and medical workers are examining passengers, including children, and in case of necessity, children receive polio vaccine, the spokesman said.
According to him, specialists consider that dried fruits produced in Tajikistan have never been carriers of any virus, including the poliovirus.
Nazriyev noted that the ban could inflict considerable damage on Tajikistan’s economy.
We will recall that the MFA information department said that Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi yesterday received Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Yuri Popov at his request. The sides discussed state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation. The Tajik side asked to consider the possibility of lifting the ban on delivery of Tajik dried fruits to Russia, the source said.
During the meeting, Ambassador Popov informed Zarifi of a composition of the Russian delegation that will attend the 37th Council of Foreign Ministers of Member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference that will take place in Dushanbe from May 18-20.
The note was handed over to the Russian envoy on completion of the meeting.
At the beginning of this week, Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare adopted the decision to put a temporal ban on the delivery of Tajik dried fruits to the Russian Federation due to a polio outbreak reported in Tajikistan.
