U.S. BEEF CLEAR TO ENTER OMAN

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000538 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, EB/TPP/ATT STATE PASS USTR FOR J.BUNTIN USDA FOR FAS JBERNSTEIN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ESTH SUBJECT: U.S. BEEF CLEAR TO ENTER OMAN REF: A. MUSCAT 484 ¶B. MUSCAT 383 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. A Ministry of Agriculture official confirmed on April 4 that Oman does not have in place either a ban, or any additional conditions beyond customary health certifications, on U.S. beef. End Summary. -------------- NO BAN HERE -------------- ¶2. On April 4, ATO Dubai Regional Director Michael Henney, Assistant Mohamed Taha, and Econoff met with Nasser Ali al-Wahaibi, Director General of Animal Wealth, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Said al-Riyami, Special Advisor, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to discuss the status of U.S. beef imports. Wahaibi asserted that the Ministry did not have a ban on U.S. beef in place, referring to an April 2005 Ministerial decision lifting the most recent ban. Wahaibi identified no additional conditions imposed on U.S. beef imports beyond health certifications already customarily provided. ¶3. Wahaibi confirmed that permit requests for U.S. beef imports would be accepted, but 15 days advance notice would be required, as per customary practice in Oman. Wahaibi explained that a previous U.S. beef shipment was blocked for lack of import permit, not as a result of BSE (reftel B). He further explained that the shipment was destroyed per written request from the importer. -------------- BUILDING AWARENESS -------------- ¶4. To assuage Ministry concerns about BSE, Henney reviewed the effectiveness of USDA's extensive food safety regulations and provided a copy of USDA's BSE safeguards summary to Wahaibi. Henney also provided a March 2006 letter from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to the Ministry that detailed the conditions surrounding the third reported BSE case in the U.S. He further provided copies of USDA's most recent BSE testing results and accompanying enhanced surveillance guidelines issued in 2004, noting their public availability on the USDA website. Henney finally invited two Ministry of Agriculture officials to attend a September USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) meat inspection training course, for which the Omanis expressed appreciation but did not commit to attending. GRAPPO