CAIRO — Egypt’s Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation al-Sayed el-Quseir announced June 14 that the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has lifted the ban on poultry exports from Egypt. Certain facilities shown to be free of the bird flu will be allowed to resume poultry exports.

The outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1) in 2006 had dealt a heavy blow to the Egyptian poultry exports, causing massive losses. Almost two decades after, the country appears to have partially contained the epidemic and achieved self-sufficiency by producing around 1.4 billion birds and around 13 billion eggs per year. Investments in the sector exceed 90 billion Egyptian pounds (about $6 billion).

Mona Mehrez, former deputy minister of agriculture for animal resources and fisheries and poultry, explained that the ban on poultry exports due to avian influenza had pummeled the Egyptian sector. Exports were halted to many African, Arab and Asian countries. Egypt took several medical and preventive measures to stop the epidemic, develop poultry production and achieve self-sufficiency in response.

In an exclusive phone interview with Al-Monitor, she said the political leadership has shown great interest in this labor-intensive industry, which employs more than 2.5 million Egyptian.