Egypt exports 11 shipments of honey bees to Saudi Arabia

CAIRO - 5 April 2022: Agriculture Minister el Sayyed el Quseir said on Monday that Egypt exported 11 shipments of honey bees to Saudi Arabia (about 10,456 parcels) after a ban imposed on exporting honey bees to Saudi Arabia was lifted.

In a press release, Quseir said that the shipments were examined by the Researches Institute of Plants Protection.

He praised efforts made by the General Organization for Veterinary Services to meet the demands of the Saudi side to resume exports of honey bees to the Gulf country.

Egypt achieved self-sufficiency of honey bees five years ago, the minister noted. 

The ban on importing Egyptian bees in Saudi Arabia has been lifted after a meeting between the directors of the Plant Quarantine in the two countries.

The meeting was held in the framework of the Egyptian-Saudi Joint Committee. On Tuesday, Egypt’s Minister of Agriculture Assayed al-Qasir said the ban was lifted.

Ahmed al-Attar, director of the Egyptian Central Administration of Plant Quarantine, said Egypt is ready to meet all the conditions of the Saudis regarding bees, where his Saudi counterpart praised the Egyptian efforts in improving the conditions of raising bees in Egypt.

Egypt also invited a Saudi technical committee to the country to select and uphold apiaries that apply to export bees to Saudi Arabia.