SENIOR Jordanian officials have called for further investment and assistance from Australia in order to improve the Middle Eastern country's animal welfare standards.
A delegation from Jordan was in WA last week and toured Livestock Shipping Services' (LSS) abattoir and feedlot facilities in Narrogin.
The delegation was led by secretary general assistant for livestock for the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Monther Al Reefai, who said it was all about learning how to better improve their own country's animal welfare standards.
"We have been looking at Australia's (animal welfare) experience and learning from that as well as learning more about ESCAS (Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System)," Dr Al Reefai said.
"We enjoy the relationship between Australia and Jordan which has been going for the last 35 years."
Jordan was part of Tranche 2 which implemented the ESCAS requirements by August 31, 2012.
The country was recently at the centre of controversy surrounding ESCAS after allegations by Animals Australia that 10,000 sheep exported by LSS were being sold outside of the ESCAS.
LSS is a Jordanian-owned live export company.
Dr Al Reefai admitted there had been mistakes committed in the country but it wasn't as big as what was reported.
But he would not give details as to what the exact numbers of the breach were.
"What happened in Jordan was that the companies were trying to follow the procedures and the system and they were successful about 95 per cent of the time," he said.
"But there is no success without mistakes."
The Department of Agriculture is continuing its investigation of the incident.
Dr Al Reefai said Jordan had been very supportive of ESCAS when the Australian Government presented it with information on the changes following the Bill Farmer Review into live exports in October 2011.
He said the Jordanian Government sat down with investors and all were supportive of trying to improve animal welfare.
"It (ESCAS) was supported because animal welfare is not something that is set in stone, you can't find it in religion, you can't find it in traditions and you can't find it in cultures," he said.
"So the Jordanian Government was supportive of improving animal welfare and therefore ESCAS."
Head of the Quarantine Department in Jordan and National Focal Point for Animal Welfare of OIE, Dr Mahmoud Alhanatleh said the country took some practical steps in order to accept ESCAS standards.
"We approached the religious authority in Jordan to give their opinion about using stunning and they were able to get them to accept stunning," Dr Alhanatleh said.
"Importing from Australia is very important for us and we consider Australia very important to our country's food security.
"The implication of ESCAS will take more time and we need to take into consideration the religious and cultural differences.
"As we sit here we would like to ask for some help in getting more abattoirs accredited and more abattoirs ESCAS-approved."
Dr Al Reefai said just three or four abattoirs in Jordan were ESCAS-accredited and that made it very hard to do business at the moment.
"To get more abattoirs accredited takes more investment and we would like to ask the Australian to invest more in abattoirs to get them accredited," Dr Al Reefai said.
He said over the last six to seven years more than $750 million worth of Australian products had been imported by Jordan, including lamb, cattle, chilled meat, dairy products and rice.
"These numbers indicate that we like Australia, like Australia's products and like Australian farmers," he said.
