A trade delegation led by the Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Toman (CSSD) was cut short after the scheduled transfer flight from Moscow to Kazan was not given permission to depart. Accompanying the Minister of Agriculture were over 20 business delegates, along with representatives from the Food Association and Czech Veterinarian Agency who decided to return to Prague after the delayed flight was held for ten hours without explanation.
The trade mission was on its way to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, a republic inside the Russian Federation, to talk to representatives of the region. Vojtech Bily, spokeman for the ministry of agriculture, added that even though there were prior approved arrangements for the trip, the Russian side did not honor their agreement, and did not allow the plane with the delegates to fly to Kazan. Toman added that the behavior of the Russian agencies calls into question the interest to work together at all. It is a shame as both the Czech and Russian business sides seemed interested in working together. Toman said he will take up the issue with the Russian Consulate in Prague.
The Chairman of the Tatarstan Association of Business and Industry Shamil Agejev told the Russian state news agency TASS that there was a problem with the documentation which made the outgoing flight not possible. They were ready from their side to meet the trade delegation.
