Indonesia, Australia to jointly verify abattoirs
Friday, 10 June 2011 00:00
Experts from Australia and Indonesia will jointly carry out a verification on several cattle slaughtering houses in Indonesia following the accusation of cruelty at the facilities which lead Australia banning exports of live cattle to Indonesia, Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono Asyraf said here on Thursday.
The minister told lawmakers that four experts from Australia along with four experts from Indonesia are expected to start working next week.
The team will check the way of slaughtering at the abattoirs whether it is done in cruel way, according to the minister.
"There will be eight people of an independent team from Indonesia and Australia to verify several abattoirs," he said on a hearing at the parliament.
"The experts from Australia will arrive this week," said Suswono.
The team would work for about ten days, he said.
Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu has said that Indonesia will cooperate with Australia in establishing quality standard.
"We will cooperate with Australia on capacity building and quality standard that we must comply at a certain period of time," she said.
The Australian government on Tuesday night suspended all live cattle exports to Indonesia, in a move that could cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars.
Indonesian Trade Minister Pangestu said that the ban will not impact on meet prices in Indonesia as the country still has sufficient stockpile.
The suspension came following ABC1's Four Corners last Monday released footage, which showed Australian cattle being tortured in Indonesian slaughterhouses.
Indonesia is the biggest buyer of Australian live cattle, accounting for about 60 percent of the market. (PNA/Xinhua)
DCT/utb
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