clearly within the strategic area of information for risk assessment it can be supported; going deeper, such as capacity building, should be expected of other Agencies or EC Directorates. Conclusions 1. Support to the request from Tunisia, excluding elements considered to be part of the national contribution (vehicles and staff, and internal communication and co-ordination ); 2. North African countries are at risk from FMD extension from parts of the middle-east and those parts of west and northern sub-Saharan Africa where they have common and open landborders; 3. The Commission should establish procedures for managing these ad-hoc requests where they are considered relevant for European risk management; 4. The European countries involved in REMESA, and the EC, should ensure that FMD is kept on the Agenda for regular meetings and that EuFMD is invited to observe meetings (or is given full information afterwards). The current arrangements for REMESA do not lead to confidence in a co-ordinated management of new events of risk to the southern Mediterranean; 5. The Secretariat should consider and respond to the request from Israel to organize a meeting for neighbouring countries on FMD management, given the current regional risks and political developments, and proximity to EU countries including Cyprus.
4.
Review of the WRL contract proposal for 2011-13 (proposal: Agree process, Report of review to be given at 81st Executive) The Executive discussed the paper circulated by the Secretariat which contained a proposed Terms of the Contract with the IAH –WRL for 2012 (Appendix 9). The Secretary introduced the paper, reminding the Session that the most recent contract was for the period to the end of 2010, and that current proposal had been developed after consideration of the paper of David Paton to the 39th Session on the minimum requirement for surveillance in each virus pool. He indicated that the agreement reached with the EC at the 39th Session was to take over support for the WRL contract at the2010 rate, therefore 150,000 in 2011. He clarified the situation with respect to surveillance projects, in which FAO/EuFMD would cost in WRL services at the rate of payments agreed following a tender process completed in March 2011 (”Framework Agreement on Diagnostic Services”) and that the current discussion concerned achieving a target level of services for surveillance in areas of greatest concerns for Europe (“European neighborhood watch plus”). The proposed system is a radical change in that in place of support for “’passive surveillance - testing samples that arrive irrespective of origin and importance – the new system would set targets for FMDV characterization by virus pool and expect the IAH-WRL to actively organize with third countries in areas of interest to achieve the screening and submission of samples presenting higher potential risk. Conclusions 1. The Secretariat should proceed with a contract agreement to total 150,000 for WRL services to FMDV surveillance provided in 2011; 2. The Chairman proposed that the IAH be asked to estimate the costs of the services in 2012 and provide this for the Mini-Executive Session in December (5th).
82nd Executive Committee of the EuFMD, Madrid, Spain, 17-18 October 2011
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