A Chinese quarantine official urged Wednesday all concerned countries and regions to lift their restrictions on poultry imports from China as its fight against the HPAI has achieved initial success with the ending of isolation in all 49 bird flu-hit areas.

Xia Hongmin, director general of Department for Supervision on Animals and Plants of China's State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (SAQSIQ), made the call at a briefing to foreign diplomats in China on recent achievements in HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) control.

Statistics on Tuesday show that a total of 48 countries and regions have stopped or restricted the imports of poultry and poultry products from China.

So far 21 of the countries and regions have resumed imports of poultry products, such as eggs, processed poultry meats and feather products, from the Chinese mainland as of Tuesday, said Xia.

Xia said the Chinese side is willing to make concerted efforts with other bird flu-hit countries to fight against the disease and to resume the trade in poultry industry.

(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2004)