Agence Haitïenne de Presse - Translation by HaitiAnalysis.com

The Haitian Agriculture Secretary of State, Joanas Gué, made it known on Thursday that the government still had not taken any decision in regard to the measure prohibiting importation that strikes certain avian products coming from the Dominican Republic.

In its Wednesday edition, the Spanish agency EFE had reported comments from the president of the Association of Merchants and Dominican eggs salesman, according to which the Haitian government would have announced this Friday the lifting of the ban on importation of avian products from the Dominican Republic.

"There is not, in the immediate future, any conceivable measure in this direction" again insisted the Secretary of State, adding that local authorities had not yet validated the report of a mission that recently carried out a visit in the east region of the Dominican Republic (where the virus H5N2 was discovered), in order to evaluate the achieved progress in the area of management of the avian crisis and of commercial relations between the two countries.

The news according to which the Haitian government would get ready before the weekend, to lift the banning measures, are without foundation and are part of maneuvers of certain members of the private Dominican sector, aiming at pressuring Haitian authorities, underlined the Secretary of State, adding that the current rumors aim to incite Haitian merchants to buy these products in Dominican Republic. Joanas Gué warned that these avian products, eggs, chicken and byproducts sanctioned by the ban carry no chance of arriving in Haiti since they will be seized at the border by Haitian Customs authorities.

The Dominican government must take all the necessary measures for its territory to be declared and certified unharmed by the virus H5N2/avian flu, before the lift of the ban measure on avian products.

"Certificates must be delivered by World-Wide organizations, of which the International Office of the Epizootic (OIE) that will have to send a notification to Haiti, declaring the Dominican territory unharmed by the virus", specified the Secretary of State who took the opportunity to commend the attitude of the residents of Belladères and other border zones that continue to, he said, in the government decision, see a mean of protecting them.

Joanas Gué recalled that the Haitian government is the only one empowered, in compliance with the international institutions, to lift the ban on avian products from the Dominican Republic to enter the local market.

Besides, he admitted, the Haitian government's duty is to create infrastructure that must support the rebooting of agricultural production to fill the vacuum created by the adoption of this measure.