Players in potato and vegetable market set up union

MOSCOW. March 29. KAZINFORM Players in the potato and vegetable market in Russia have founded the Potato Union. The founding meeting of the Union with the participation of Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik was held on Tuesday. Sergei Lupekhin was elected the Union's chairman. Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.

"The foundation of the Potato Union is one of the important stages of the development of the agrarian food market," the minister said. "I believe the new branch organization will become a reliable partner of the Agriculture Ministry in the development of this trend," she said.

With the foundation of the Potato Union "we can start drafting the needed program for the branch," she said.

Lupekhin has said the main purposes of the Union are to assist the formation and development of the national market of potatoes and vegetables, as well as the creation of organizational, economic, legal and social conditions needed for interaction of players on the potato and vegetable market.

The tasks of the Union comprise assistance to development and modernization of the infrastructure for the production, storage, processing, transportation and wholesale marketing of potatoes and vegetables, participation in research and designing work to perfect related technologies and introducing them in the entrepreneurial activities of members of the Union and creating the uniform rules for certification and standardization of potato and vegetable production. Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com