Saudi Arabia has lifted its ban on livestock imports from Sudan and Jordan to meet the demand for over two million heads of sacrificial animals for this year's Haj following a veterinarian team's report testifying that the animals there were free of contagious diseases, authorities said. The team inspected the quarantine centers there to ensure that the animals were free from epidemic diseases. Jaber Al-Shehri, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Animal Resources, said the team is scheduled to visit Djibouti soon to inspect the health conditions of the animals there. Once found free of epidemic diseases, animals from Djibouti will be imported to the Kingdom as well. The livestock ban was imposed after a terminated outbreak of Rift Valley Fever. The Kingdom imports over 4.5 million heads of livestock every year from Syria, Iran, Argentina, Uruguay, and China. There are over 18 million heads of animal raised in the Kingdom.
