ITEM 8 – ROLE OF THE EUFMD COMMISSION IN RELATION TO THE EUROPE- MEDITERRANEAN ANIMAL HEALTH NETWORK (REMSA) IN SUPPORTING IMPROVED FMD CONTROL IN THE REGION ITEM 9 – TECHNICAL ITEMS: GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF THE NEW DECENTRALISED TESTS SYSTEMS IN

Dr Domenech, FAO, indicated that this was the mode of operation at present, and expressed gratitude for the work of the Secretariat to promote regional FMD control, through regional meetings under the GF-TADS structures. Dr Pinheiro, Portugal, voiced support for the vision statement, and suggested that stronger linkage to the PVS approach of the OIE should be part of the Roadmap, to achieve the capacity changes required. The Chairman, in summing up, proposed that EuFMD should take the lead on the West Eurasia Roadmap, but in other regions the role should be to support not lead the Roadmaps.

General agreement was indicated to this position, and to the proposals before the Session.

The Representative of Turkey voiced strong support for the initiative and indicated willingness to support the Roadmap through hosting the Co-ordination Centre (CC), and particularly to take the lead in laboratory networking for the region. The Representative of Iran re-iterated their strong support for the Roadmap and willingness to host the CC and could provide staff and buildings to for a regional FMD epidemiology unit.

Conclusions

1. The Progressive Control pathway (PCP) approach was welcomed by the delegates and endorsed by the Session as a tool that could be of great potential significance to development and monitoring of control programs; 2. The PVS tool of the OIE is highly relevant and complimentary to the Regional Roadmaps/ PCP approach and PVS progress should be encouraged as part of the regional programs. 3. The FMD situation in the West Eurasia region is of high priority for the EuFMD Commission, but progress in other regions will also be necessary to reduce risk to the EuropeMediterranean region.

Item 8 – Role of the EuFMD Commission in relation to the Europe- Mediterranean Animal Health Network (REMSA) in supporting improved FMD control in the region

The main statement on the status of development of a network for improved co-ordination on animal health (Europe- Mediterranean Animal Health Network (REMSA)) was provided by Dr Füessel, DG-SANCO, European Commission (EC). He indicated that the EC supports a close cooperation in the field of animal health, and FMD in particular, between EuFMD and countries forming part of the Mediterranean Union within the Barcelona Process. The EC, in particular DG Development, supports activities directed at the control of FMD in sub-Saharan Africa; EuFMD is encouraged to continue its established activities for sampling and characterising of viruses from animals in the Sahel zone to assist the countries in that region in their control measures for FMD, to establish an early warning system for the countries in Northern Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea and for member countries of EuFMD. Further, the activities of EuFMD which started during the past 2 years in collaboration with other players in sub-Saharan Africa are fully in line with the strategy of "One World One Health" upheld by GF-TADs at its fourth steering committee of 10 March 2009 in Nairobi. Regarding REMSA, although the Union process for the Mediterranean (UMed) has been delayed due to political problems involved with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this does not prevent the actions from taking place at technical level. He indicated that initial indications are that no short-term specific additional financing is expected and it is advisable simply to use as much as possible the tools already existing and financed by the EC or by the MS and to label them with "UMed", in order to prepare more important medium and long term financing. Moreover, it is not a question inevitably of obtaining more financing but of aligning and harmonizing all the current actions around one or more common strategies. Once these defined strategies are validated, means could be required via the Neighbourhood Policy of the EU (ENP) to implement them. In essence ("the overall objective") is to obtain: • As reliable and prompt health information as possible; • Surveillance and control strategies harmonised around common objectives; • Sub-regional and regional approaches of the control programmes;

• Upgrading of veterinary services of the Mediterranean countries. Regarding the EuFMD, it is instrumental to the EU measures for the control of contagious diseases. Its relatively autonomous financing system, focused on the risk of introduction of the disease in Europe, allows a major adaptability and a great speed of implementation, compared with the financing of traditional technical cooperation. Moreover, he added, the positioning of the EuFMD within FAO guarantees: • Good visibility in the developing countries; and • A permanent source of information via the networks in place; • While its relative independence enables it to establish the link with other organizations, like the European Commission or the OIE. The activities of EuFMD have been increasingly focused on prevention of FMD, centred on the North-East area of the Mediterranean basin: Balkans, Greece, Bulgaria, European Turkey, then on the Near and Middle East: Asian Turkey, Syria, and even beyond: Iraq, Iran, the Caucasus. The "overall" character of the action of the EuFMD gradually continues, and it intervenes in fact already, in the Mediterranean region. Its role could be extended for broader cooperation with North Africa, from Egypt to Mauritania. Thus, the integration of the EuFMD tool within the REMSA would allow the guarantee of an excellent data collection on the Foot-and-Mouth Disease, or even coordinated control measures. Through the EuFMD idea to create a "cordon sanitaire" around Europe, it is clear that it is improvement of animal disease surveillance networks of the animal diseases and a harmonization of the control methods which are sought, and this is indeed the objective of REMSA.

Additional Statements Dr Bouguedour, CVO Algeria, made a statement (Appendix 18) on behalf of the North African countries. Six countries, from Mauritania to Egypt, had participated in the Regional Coordination meeting held in Algiers in February, organized by the FAO/OIE RAHC, with EuFMD technical support on the item on FMD. He indicated that FMD continued to be highly important, with two countries having regular outbreaks (Egypt and Mauritania); Libya experienced outbreaks in 2009, but not for 10 years in the other three countries. He considered that the lack of outbreaks in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco in 2009 reflected better networking, preparedness, and response to information provided by EuFMD and others. Given the difference in risk, the support required varied between countries. He strongly supported increased technical networking on FMD, addressing issues including improved, harmonized contingency plans, improved sero-surveillance and reporting of results, re-enforced capacity for FMD diagnosis, better co-operation , discussion and response to informal animal movements across borders, and an emergency access to antigens that may allow increased areas to cease vaccination (free of FMD without vaccination).

The viewpoint of Eastern Mediterranean countries in the middle-East region was given by Dr Khoury, Manager, OIE/FAO RAHC Beirut. He indicated that the RAHC supported improved networking, and that the RAHC could as part of the system to deliver assistance and improved co-ordination of FMD control efforts. He requested that EuFMD continued to assist in technical issues at the Annual FMD Roundtable convened by the RAHC.

The viewpoint of the Veterinary Services (GOVS) of Egypt was provided by Dr Basyouni (Appendix 19). He thanked the EuFMD for technical support, through FAO, to improved disease surveillance and vaccine quality assurance in Egypt. He stressed that some changes introduced were fragile, such as a reporting network for FMD, and laboratory capacity and QA, and requested continued support to introduce changes and become better networked to technical specialists in the Europe-Mediterranean region.