American document reveals United Arab Emirates imported some 54 tons of pork from US between January and February for $139,000; imports expected to be halted on backdrop of swine flu epidemic
Doron Peskin
Published:  05.07.09, 01:06 / Ynet

As in the rest of the world, Arab countries are also in a state of anxiety over the swine flu epidemic. This issue is particularly sensitive there, as the pig is considered an impure animal by Islam.
 
Therefore, an official document released by the US Department of Agriculture in regards to the export of pork to Arab countries has raised great interest in Arab media. According to the data, quoted by many newspapers and leading internet forums in the Arab world, three Arab countries – Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – imported pork from the United States in the first two months of 2009.
 
According to the data, throughout the months of January and February, the UAE imported some 54 tons of pork from the US at a total cost of $139,000. Bahrain imported at the same period of time about 5 tons of American pork for a total cost of $20,000. These two countries import the pork mainly for their hotels.
 
Earlier last week, the UAE authorities announced that they would stop importing pork and that cooking pork in hotels would be forbidden. The American document did not reveal any financial details on the cost of exporting pork to Egypt, but stated that in the discussed period American manufacturers sold pork to the Egyptians.
 
Iraq to allot $30M to fight virus
Iraq, which has a Christian community, is also trying to prevent the swine flu virus from reaching the country. The local Health Ministry announced that it would allot $30 million to carry out plans aimed at preventing an outbreak of the virus.
 
The Health Ministry has stressed that no cases of swine flu have been detected in Iraq so far. The head of the ministry's public health department, Ahsan Jafer Ahmed, told the local al-Sabah newspaper that the money would be used, among other things, for hospital deployment.
 
Iraqi officials fear that an outbreak of the virus in the country may be fatal due to the shaky infrastructure of the local health services.
 
Doron Peskin is head of research at Info-Prod Research (Middle East) Ltd

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