TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Iraq has decided to cancel a ban it had earlier imposed on the import of Iranian chicken products after Tehran managed to control an avian flu epidemic.

After Iran Veterinary Organization (IVO) submitted a report to the World Veterinary Association (WVA) indicating that it has curbed the epidemic in the country, Baghdad lifted the ban on chicken imports from Iran.

The ban, which included fresh and frozen chickens as well as other chicken products, had come into effect three weeks ago.

However, in a recent visit by Iraqi Agriculture Minister Falah Hassan al-Zaidan to Tehran, Iraqi officials were briefed on the report, and decided to remove the ban after visiting a number of poultry farms in Iran.

Earlier on August 2, IVO Chief Mehdi Khalaj announced that no new suspected case of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus had been reported and the country had been declared free of the disease.

�With the imposition of strict sanitary and quarantine conditions and the support of governors and officials of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, currently, there is no case of avian flu in the (northern) province of Mazandaran and other provinces of the country,� Khalaj said.

In mid-June, the OIE said Iran reported an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu among backyard chickens in a village in the north of the country.

According to the report, the outbreak in Nogardan in Mazandaran province started on June 12. The virus killed 17 out of 25 susceptible birds at the location, and the remaining eight were destroyed, the OIE said in a statement.

By Tasnim News Agency