RAWALPINDI (March 24 2004): Afghanistan has agreed to import poultry from Pakistan quashing the ban imposed after the bird flu rumours, Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) Secretary General Chaudhry Majeed said here on Tuesday.

Talking to a group of journalists he confirmed that Afghanistan had agreed to import poultry products from Pakistan.

"The Afghanistan government had started buying poultry from Pakistan and the first consignment would reach there on Friday," he said.

He also said that the Middle East would lift the ban soon, adding that during discussion with these countries, the association functionaries had successfully stemmed their apprehension.

"Once the import of poultry started, huge losses that the sector had to face in the aftermath of crisis would be made up soon," the PPA official said.

He said that poultry was a big source of foreign exchange for the country and hoped that it would play its due role in future.

Talking on bird flu crisis, he said, it was the conspiracy being hatched by the European countries to stem the bright prospects of the sector.

He said poultry was being supplied abroad and had competently countered the challenge posed by European and Asian countries.

Majeed hoped that with the lifting of ban by the Middle Eastern countries, the sector would soon regain its past enviable position.

Courtesy Business Recorder