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Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on Agricultural Co-Operation [1981] CATSer 19 (26 September 1981)

E100002 - CTS 1981 No. 23

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS ON AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION

The Government of Canada and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,

TAKING into account the significance of food production for the people of both countries and of the world;

SEEKING to expand the existing co-operation between the two countries in agricultural research, development and technology;

DESIROUS of applying modern knowledge and technology in the field of agriculture production, engineering and processing;

RECOGNIZING the desirability of expanding economic co-operation in the field of agriculture and of the exchange of information contributing to such co-operation;

CONVINCED that increased co-operation in the field of agriculture will facilitate a further improvement in friendly relations between the two countries;

GUIDED by the high political significance they attach to the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and their determination to act in accordance with its provisions;

ACTING in accordance with the objectives of the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on Co-operation in the Industrial Application of Science and Technology of 27 January, 1971, and of the Long Term Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to facilitate Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technical Co-operation, of 14 July, 1976;

HAVE AGREED as follows:

ARTICLE I

The Contracting Parties shall develop and implement co-operation in the field of agriculture on the basis of mutual benefit, equality, and reciprocity.

ARTICLE II

The Contracting Parties shall promote the development of mutually beneficial co-operation in the following main areas:

1. Regular exchange of information on actual planted area, on volumes of production and procurement of major agricultural products in the form of annual totals as well as targets or forecasts of agricultural production for the current year and the current five-year period;

2. Exchange of material and missions on the methodology of planning or forecasting of production and consumption of major agricultural products;

3. Plant science, including genetics, breeding, plant protection, cultivation of agricultural plants;

4. Animal and poultry science, including genetics, breeding, physiology, feeding, stock selection, disease control, industrial methods of production and processing of animal husbandry products;

5. Land utilization, including questions of surveying and utilization of land, measures for soil erosion control and recultivation of lands affected by industrial extraction as well as questions of examination, registration and inventory, and evaluation of lands;

6. Agricultural mechanics, including development and testing of new machines, and the exchange of complete data with respect to such tests, equipment and technology as well as maintenance and repair services;

7. Use of certain agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, energy (fuel, oil, electricity), agricultural chemicals;

8. Processing, storage and preservation of agricultural commodities, including formula feed technology;

9. Land reclamation and reclamation engineering, including development of new equipment, designs and materials;

10. Use of mathematical methods and electronic computers in agriculture, including mathematical modelling of large-scale agricultural enterprises;

Other areas of co-operation may be added by mutual agreement.

ARTICLE III

Co-operation between the Contracting Parties may take the following forms:

1. Exchange of scientists, specialists, students and trainees;

2. Organization of bilateral symposia and conferences;

3. Exchange of scientific, technical and economic information;

4. Planning, development and implementation of joint projects and programs;

5. Exchange of germ plasm, seeds and living materials;

6. Exchange of animals, biological materials, agricultural chemicals, samples of new machines, equipment and scientific instruments;

Other forms of co-operation may be added by mutual agreement.

ARTICLE IV

1. The Contracting Parties shall, for the purpose of the present Agreement, appropriately promote, facilitate and encourage the development of co-operational and direct contacts between the governmental and non-governmental establishments, scientific research and other organizations, trade associations and firms of the two countries, including the conclusion of appropriate working arrangements or contracts on implementation of specific projects and programmes in accordance with the present Agreement;

2. To assure fruitful development of co-operation, each Contracting Party shall render every assistance for the travel of scientists and specialists to areas, institutions, and organizations of the other Contracting Party appropriate for the conduct of activities under the present Agreement;

3. Co-operation under the present Agreement shall be realized in accordance with the laws and regulations of each country.

ARTICLE V

1. To implement the present Agreement, a Mixed Canadian-Soviet Commission on Co-operation in Agriculture shall be established. The Mixed Commission shall meet normally not less than once every two years, alternately in Canada and in the USSR, if not otherwise mutually agreed.

2. The Mixed Commission shall review and approve specific projects and programs of co-operation, establish the order of their implementation, determine the appropriate institutions and organizations responsible for the implementation of joint measures of co-operation and prepare, when necessary, recommendations to the Contracting Parties.

3. The Executive Bodies for co-ordinating the activities arising from the present Agreement shall be: for the Government of Canada - the Department of Agriculture of Canada, and for the USSR - the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR.

4. The Executive Bodies shall co-ordinate and facilitate, in their respective countries, co-operation of other institutions and organizations as required for the implementation of joint measures of co-operation under the present Agreement. In the period between the meetings of the Mixed Commission the Executive Bodies shall maintain ties, co-ordinate and facilitate the elaboration and implementation of joint measures of co-operation undertaken in accordance with the present Agreement.

5. On mutual agreement within the framework of the Canadian-Soviet Mixed Commission on Co-operation in Agriculture, mixed working groups shall be organized and shall meet alternately in Canada and in the USSR on an annual basis.

ARTICLE VI

If a working arrangement does not provide otherwise, each Contracting Party or participating institution, organization or enterprise shall bear the expense of its participation or the participation of its staff in joint measures of co-operation undertaken in accordance with the present Agreement.

ARTICLE VII

1. Nothing in the present Agreement shall be construed as contrary to, or intended to alter, any agreements in force between the Contracting Parties.

2. Programmes developed by the Canadian-Soviet working groups on agriculture, agricultural machinery and equipment and the processing industry, and approved by the First Session of the Canada-USSR Mixed Commission on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technical Co-operation in October 1976, shall be carried out continuously and shall become the responsibility of the Canada-Soviet Mixed Commission on Co-operation in Agriculture, after it has been officially established.

ARTICLE VIII

1. The present Agreement shall enter into force from the date of its signature and shall remain in force for a period of five years. The Agreement shall be extended automatically for further periods of five years, unless either of the Contracting Parties gives notice to the other of its intention to terminate the present Agreement not less than six months prior to the expiry of the term of the present Agreement.

2. The present Agreement may be altered at any time by mutual agreement of the Contracting Parties.

3. The termination of the present Agreement shall not affect the validity of working arrangements concluded in accordance with the present Agreement between institutions, organizations and firms of both countries.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorized to that effect by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.

DONE in duplicate, at Moscow this 26th day of September 1981, in the French, English and Russian languages, each version being equally authentic.

Eugene F. Whelan

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

V. K. Mesyats

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS.