The Libyan government, appointed by the parliament in the east of the country, held a meeting to discuss the possibility of signing a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture in South Africa for the supply of livestock.
The meeting was attended by Mohamed Aaqab, Chairman of the Animal Health Center Committee at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Wealth, and Nasr Khaled Abdul Karim, Director of the International Cooperation Department at Foreign Ministry, in the presence of a group of livestock supply company owners.
According to a statement from the Libyan Foreign Ministry, the agreement includes compliance with general health conditions for the purpose of importing animals and Libyan veterinary conditions for the import of sheep, goats, and cattle for slaughter and utilization of their meat.
Last month, the Libyan Government-designate has imported a substantial shipment of livestock to control soaring meat prices. The port of Benghazi welcomed the vessel “Tulip” from the port of Cartagena in Spain, carrying 10,000 sheep and 248 cows. This initiative comes as part of the government’s commitment to stabilising the prices of red and white meats, as well as essential commodities, fulfilling a promise made by Prime Minister Osama Hammad.
According to the statement, veterinary teams from the National Center for Animal Health have commenced medical inspections of the livestock to ensure their health status matches the accompanying health certificates. This measure aims to safeguard the quality and safety of meat products entering the Libyan market.
The country has witnessed a significant spike in meat prices recently, exacerbated by the onset of Ramadan, the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in some municipalities, and the aftermath of Storm Daniel, which resulted in the loss of approximately 30% of the livestock in eastern Libya.
Prime Minister Osama Hammad has personally overseen the efforts of the veterinary teams at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Wealth to conduct thorough veterinary inspections.
