Vol. 540 No. 3
71 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the countries which he has visited to support the reopening of markets for beef and live cattle exports; the result of such visits to Iran, Egypt and Libya; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20675/01]
No effort has been spared by the Government to recover access for Ireland's beef and live cattle exports to those international markets which have been closed as a result of the BSE and foot and mouth diseases crisis.
The Taoiseach, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, other members of the Government, including myself, together with An Bord Bia and our embassies abroad, have been working intensively to achieve this key objective.
Much of our effort has been focused on Egypt, our most important market for beef outside the EU, worth £200 million annually, which has been closed to us since December last. The Taoiseach has spoken to President Mubarak on the question. My colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Deputy Walsh, visited Egypt last December and further visits there at official and veterinary level have taken place since then.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development has maintained close contact with his opposite numbers in Egypt and in a number of other important markets, to reassure them of the high quality and safety of Irish food products and to urge an early review the import ban in each case.
I visited Libya in June of last year to conduct negotiations with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister there on the question of the reopening of that market for live cattle and beef. On my instruction, our ambassador to Libya, based in Rome, will visit Tripoli next week to pursue this question further with the Libyan authorities.
The beef trade with Iran is the subject of continuing contacts with the Iranian authorities, both directly and through diplomatic channels. As a result, Iran approved the Irish veterinary certificate for beef exports in April 2000. Official level contacts, with a view to ensuring that Ireland is included in the list of countries invited to tender for supplies of beef to Iran, are continuing.
