A delegation from Egypt on Monday began examining Irish controls on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), writes Sean MacConnell, Agriculture Correspondent.
Their report will determine whether Egypt will resume buying Irish beef which it banned last December.
Egypt has been Ireland's largest non-EU customer for beef and, in the year leading up to the ban, had taken 150,000 tonnes of beef worth £200 million, around 25 per cent of Irish beef exports.
