December 7, 2005

 

Bolivia lifts ban on Colombian poultry imports

 

 

Bolivia ended on Dec 1 a two-month ban imposed on Colombian poultry after determining that cases of bird flu found in the northern country were not harmful to humans, the Colombian government said Tuesday.

 

Leonidas Tobon, development director at Colombia's Ministry of Agriculture, said Bolivia made the decision after acknowledging the flu strain found in Colombian chicken was not related to the strain that has killed dozens of people in Asia.

 

Tobon added that Ecuador and Venezuela could be the next countries to lift similar bans. "I expect Ecuador will lift restrictions over the next week, after a meeting with sanitary authorities on Dec 13," Tobon told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview.

 

Bolivia, as well as Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Panama halted imports of poultry from Colombia, after authorities on Oct 10 announced they detected three cases of bird flu in farms in western Tolima state. The government, however, quickly pointed out that the virus was not the deadly H5N1 strain that experts fear can mutate to become a dangerous human virus.

 

Meetings with Venezuelan authorities will resume next week, "after which they may stop blocking our exports," Tobon added.

 

Peru, though, is waiting for a report from a US laboratory that may show that the bird flu cases detected in Colombia are neither dangerous to people nor other birds, said the government official.

 

Colombia exported US$13 million worth of poultry products last year, the vast majority to Venezuela. The Colombian poultry association, Fenavi, estimates its losses could reach US$5 million by the end of the year. Fenavi said other Andean countries are blowing the health scare out of proportion and creating damage for the industry.

 

Bolivia imported US$10,000 worth of Colombian chickens between January and July, said Tobon.

 

Colombia is considering removing a ban on imports of Bolivian and Ecuadorean rice, said Tobon. The restriction on rice was imposed by Colombia last month.

 

"That is very likely to happen," said Tobon. But Tobon added that Colombia will "study what kind of actions those countries have taken," as Colombian authorities have complained that its partners are not doing enough to prevent bird flu.

 

The Bolivian government questioned Colombia's decision to block rice exports and said the decision is nothing but a retaliatory move against Bolivia.