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Riyadh: Saudi Arabia announced that it would compensate owners of poultry farms whose birds were culled on suspicions of catching the deadly bird flu virus.
"In line with the directives of the Council of Ministers, the government will pay 80 per cent of the losses [incurred] by owners of poultry farms," Minister of agriculture Fahd Balghunaim said in statements on Friday.
The authorities said more than 3 million birds have been culled so far to contain the spread of the H5NI virus.
The minister said his ministry is discussing the ban imposed by some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, like the UAE and Kuwait, on Saudi poultry products.
Talks
"We have asked the GCC Secretariat General to have the issue [the ban] discussed with the GCC ministers of agriculture," Balghunaim said.
He disclosed that the kingdom has sent a report about the disease to the World Organisation for Animal Health.
Dr Abdullah Al Obaid, undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture for agricultural research development, who is in charge of the Saudi agricultural dossier at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said according to WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement, any ban imposed by neighbouring countries on poultry should be confined to the areas affected by the disease and that import shall be allowed from non-affected areas.
He added that the kingdom and other GCC states are members of this organisation.
He noted that the disease is still confined to limited areas as the kingdom has more than 341 poultry farms, with only 108 located in the Riyadh region.
The ad hoc joint committee assigned to combat bird flu in the kingdom, has confiscated large quantities of eggs from poultry shops at the outskirts of Riyadh and not far from some poultry farms suspected of infected with the disease.
In the capital, eggs continue to sell at the usual price.
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