RIYADH, 22 October 2004 — Australia will resume livestock exports to Saudi Arabia once quarantine facility is set up in Jeddah, according to outgoing Ambassador Robert Tyson.
The envoy also revealed last night that Ian Biggs, a senior career diplomat with wide experience in the Middle East, has been appointed new Australian ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The ambassador in Riyadh is concurrently accredited to Bahrain, Oman and Yemen.
Referring to livestock exports to the Kingdom, Tyson said that “the two countries are working on a plan as how to ensure smooth trade in livestock.” Australia, which is losing millions of dollars because of the suspension of livestock trade with Saudi Arabia, has submitted a draft document to the Gulf governments including the Kingdom; which contains new guidelines and modalities for resuming livestock trade.
This draft document, which is still to be finalized with the Gulf countries including the Kingdom, will ensure a greater degree of transparency and predictability, which will help to facilitate the livestock trade. Australia stopped its exports to the Kingdom in August last year following Riyadh’s refusal to accept a shipment of 57,000 sheep, which Saudis said were suffering from scabby mouth disease. The draft document, which will work out arrangements of trade, will help to avoid a repeat of the Saudi-Australian standoff.
Australia’s trade with Saudi Arabia has been worth $124 million annually, making the Kingdom the largest market for a billion-dollar Australian livestock. Asked about the target date to resume livestock exports, the ambassador said that “we expect some discussions on this subject within a few months from now.”
He said: “The livestock trade with other Gulf countries has not been affected.”
The Kingdom alone consumes some 10 million heads of livestock annually of which 80 percent are imported from different countries. Ambassador Tyson backed the idea of a quarantine facility, saying that “the creation of a quarantine facility in Saudi Arabia into which animals could be offloaded in the event of a quarantine issue has been supported by us. It will also be good for the health of the livestock, he said. More than 40 Arab, African, Asian and European countries have been placed on the list of countries whose livestock export to the Kingdom is subjected to strict quarantine.
