CONDITIONS, NOT BAN, ON U.S. BEEF IMPORTS

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000484 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, EB/TPP/ATT STATE PASS USTR FOR JBUNTIN DUBAI FOR ATO MHENNEY USDA FOR FAS/W JBERNSTEIN AND APHIS JGREIFER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL ECON EAGR ETRD USDA USTR MU SUBJECT: CONDITIONS, NOT BAN, ON U.S. BEEF IMPORTS REF: A. STATE 46150 ¶B. MUSCAT 383 This message contains sensitive Omani government correspondence. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (U) On March 27, POLE Chief and Econoff delivered reftel A points to Ministry of Commerce and Industry Economic Advisor Said al-Riyami, who appeared unaware that the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had ceased issuing permits for U.S. beef imports. Al-Riyami contacted the Ministry of Agriculture's Director General of Animal Wealth, who Econoff met on March 14 (reftel B),for clarification on the status of U.S. beef imports. This issue rose to the ministerial level, where on March 27 al-Riyami shared the following note verbale from Shaykh Salim bin Hilal al-Khalili, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, to Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, Minister of Commerce and Industry. ¶2. (SBU) Begin informal translation of note: We would like to bring to your attention that due to the announcement by the United States of America that on March 12, 2006, it discovered the third case of mad cow disease in a farm in Alabama, and upon studying the disease situation in the USA, and their ban on the use of components of animal origin in cattle fodder since 1997, and based on OIE recommendations and directives; Therefore, this Ministry has no objection to importation of fresh beef from the United States of America subject to the following conditions: 1- Beef products should be from animals that had been examined before and after they were slaughtered in order to ensure they were free of the mad cow disease infection. 2- Beef should be from animals twelve months old or younger. 3- Beef should be free from any dangerous tissues that are mentioned in the OIE international charter. 4- Beef should originate from local livestock and from farms where no cases of the mad cow disease had ever been reported. 5- A ban should have been enforced for the past eight years on the use of animal proteins in components of cattle fodder. 6- The country should be enforcing the Traceability System on cattle. End informal translation. STEWART