Somalia Possible to Restart Meet Export to Gulf CountriesThere is now some light for the restart of exporting Somalia's livestock to the Gulf countries after a serious economic setback, following the ban on Somalia's meat from the Arabian countries for an alleged outbreak of the rift valley disease in east Africa three years ago.According to local media, a fact-finding mission consisting of officials from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Arab Emirates is conducting a verification tour in Somalia. The six-member delegation has visited Somalia's semi-autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland in the past two days and closely examined the facility, the meat and the overall condition of the area. Although sources close to the delegation have said that the officials are satisfied with what they have seen, the final results of the visit will be announced later. Somalia's economy depends mainly on the export of its livestock to the Arabian countries. The country's meat was banned in 1998 after the World Health Organization announced that the rift valley disease is existing in neighboring Kenya, therefore leading to the Arabian countries to impose the meat import restriction from some east African countries, also including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. |
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