March 18, 2004

 

 

Taiwan Look To WTO For Removal Of Poultry Import Ban

 

Taiwan's top trade official in Geneva said Monday that those countries that have banned or restricted the import of fowl from Taiwan lack scientific evidence for implementing the measures and have taken inappropriate actions in dealing with the matter.

 

Yen Ching-chang, Taiwan's permanent representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO), made the comments at a meeting designed to seek support for the removal of the bans through the WTO multilateral mechanism.

 

At the meeting held by Taiwan's permanent mission to the WTO, delegates from nine WTO countries and areas that have imposed a ban on the import of fowl from Taiwan were invited to listen to explanations given by Taiwan health and agricultural authorities on the efforts that the island has made in its fight against bird flu.

 

The nine countries and areas are Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.

 

Many countries have banned fowl imports from Canada and the United States due to the outbreaks of avian flu in those two countries. Twenty-one countries have restricted imports of fowl from Taiwan despite the fact the island has only seen a few cases of low-risk pathogenic H5N2 bird flu virus infection among its fowl.

 

Statistics show that most of the fowl raised in Taiwan are for domestic consumption and that the ban and restrictions imposed by other countries have had only a minor impact on the island's trade.

 

As the WTO's Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures is scheduled to hold a two-day meeting beginning March 17, Yen has decided to take the opportunity to use the WTO's multilateral mechanism to directly call for those countries to remove their bans and restrictions on Taiwan fowl imports, as well as to invite delegates from the nine countries to better their understanding of Taiwan's efforts on bird flu-prevention ahead of the upcoming gathering.

 

Addressing Monday's meeting, Yen emphasized that both the WHO and the World Organization for Animal Health(OIE) have confirmed that outbreaks of avian flu in Taiwan are not caused by the H5N1 strain and that Taiwan had even actively informed the two organizations of its H5N2 situation despite the fact the OIE had only asked those countries affected by outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu virus to make a report to the organization. He said Taiwan deserves to be seen as a model in dealing with avian flu.

 

A Council of Agriculture official also said at the meeting that the restrictions on fowl imports from Taiwan are "unnecessary quarantine measures" because Taiwan has only registered a few cases of H5N2 bird flu which do not need to be reported to the OIE.

 

Recognizing Taiwan's "high standard" measures in dealing with bird flu after listening to the explanations from the Taiwan officials, delegates from the nine countries promised to pass on the information to their governments for reference in making a decision on the matter.