RIYADH, 26 June 2007 — The state of Kuwait will lift the ban it imposed three months ago on the importing of poultry products from Saudi Arabia, a senior Kuwaiti official announced here yesterday. “The lifting of the ban will be signed tomorrow,” said Jassem Al-Badr, chairman of the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti official made the comments following the conclusion of the 18th GCC Agricultural Meeting that took place on Sunday in the GCC Secretariat General headquarters in Riyadh.
Kuwait is the second country to lift a ban imposed on the import of chilled or frozen chicken from Saudi Arabia. Last week, UAE Minister of Environment and Water Mohammed Saeed Al-Kindi issued a decree lifting the ban imposed on the importing of chilled and frozen chicken and table egg from Saudi Arabia. The ministry’s decision to lift the ban was based on information from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), which gave Saudi Arabia a clean chit as a result of safety measures taken by Riyadh to get bird flu under total control.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Al-Badr said that officials had discussed ways to develop relations between GCC countries and other international agricultural organizations. “GCC countries lack the experience of international organizations,” he said, adding that it was important to focus on human resource development in Gulf member states in the agriculture and farming industries.
GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah welcomed Kuwait’s decision to lift the ban on the poultry products and called on other countries to follow suit.
“The WOAH announced that the Kingdom was free from bird flu,” he said, adding that the GCC Agriculture Committee was preparing a pamphlet on the common diseases that infect birds. The pamphlet, he said, would specify poultry products which should not be banned from being imported according to WOAH standards. “It will be distributed to concerned authorities in GCC states,” he said, adding that agriculture ministers, who met on Sunday focused on stringent measures to be taken by GCC states to combat bird smuggling.
He also said that the GCC Committee for Agriculture would continue to hold regular meetings to follow up on the developments taken by the GCC states to combat the spread of bird flu. “Officials from GCC states will exchange information during their visits on the latest procedures they are taking in their countries,” he said, adding that measures to combat the spread of bird flu in GCC states would be highlighted in the next meeting of the committee’s members.
Al-Attiyah said that as a preliminary measure, the Gulf member states had agreed to construct a regional office for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in a member state.
“The GCC Secretariat General has been assigned the task of cooperating with FAO officials on how to implement GCC strategies according to international standards,” he said, adding that once the decision is taken to open the bureau, it will have a direct link to FAO’s main headquarters in Rome. This issue would be discussed in the next GCC agricultural meeting, he said.
He added that agriculture ministers had requested Saudi Arabia to prepare a report on their organic food program, which would be discussed with other GCC agriculture ministers in the next meeting.
Agriculture Minister Fahd Balghunaim said last March in an address to the Shoura Council that within the year, organic crops could be introduced in the Kingdom thanks to his ministry’s initiative. He also called for the establishment of a national commission for organic farming.
Organic crops produce fruit and vegetables without the assistance of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or other chemicals, growing them naturally and therefore reducing the detrimental impact chemicals pose to the environment and potentially to public health.
