KUWAIT CITY (AFP) -- Saudi Arabia and Australia have agreed to avoid future disputes over livestock trade after the kingdom rejected a shipment of 52,000 sheep in August, the Australian trade minister said here Sunday.

Mark Vaile, who arrived in Kuwait late Saturday at the end of a Gulf tour to discuss trade relations, also said Australia has no problems regarding its livestock exports to Kuwait, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Vaile visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iraq before coming to Kuwait where he is due to hold talks with his counterpart Abdul Rahman al-Taweel over boosting bilateral trade relations.

"I discussed the causes of the dispute with the Saudi officials. All aspects of the matter have been explained and the two parties agreed to avoid such disputes from taking place in the future," Vaile was quoted as saying.

Saudi Arabia infuriated Australia in August by claiming the 52,000 Australian sheep sold to a Saudi merchant were infected with the disease scabby mouth and could not be unloaded.

The sheep remained stranded at sea on the MV Cormo Express for 70 days as dozens of other governments refused to take the animals until Australia finally paid the poor African nation of Eritrea to take the shipment.

Before leaving Australia on Thursday Vaile said he would deliver a clear message to Saudi Arabia that Australia is not willing to see a repeat of the incident, which marred the image of its multi-billion-dollar livestock trade.

Vaile visited Iraq on Friday and Saturday where he inspected Australian troops and held meetings with Iraqi ministers and members of the Governing Council in addition to US civil administrator Paul Bremer.

The oil-rich Gulf region is vital for Australian exports, the value of which reached 6.2 billion dollars in 2002, Vaile said.

Australian exports to the region included aircraft, ships, passenger motor vehicles, wheat, livestock, dairy products and vegetables.

The Kuwaiti minister said talks with Vaile include the possibility of upgrading an economic agreement signed with Australia two decades ago. The value of trade between the two countries reached 420 million dollars last year, he said.

A new shipment of 73,000 live sheep left Australia for Kuwait early Sunday, free of the protests which have dogged other recent sheep shipments.