Lebanon to join. The next Joint Planning Committee (JPC) meeting is to be held in MALTA, in March, under the Co-Presidency of Malta and Mauritania. He presented the work plan as a welcome initiative that had been well co-ordinated with FAO and OIE through the Regional Coordination Unit in Tunis, with valuable outcomes for the REMESA countries in North Africa that should also contribute significantly to progress in the region. There are five outputs of the Component, agreed with the REMESA RCU, which were also endorsed by the Libya and Portuguese presidents of REMESA. Broadly, they divide into assisting Libya and Mauritania to develop national RBSPs, to assist the three Maghreb countries in their surveillance effort as needed for recognition by the OIE of FMD freedom and to build confidence from surveillance on the FMD situation (early warning/confidence in freedom) on the Libya-Tunisia border. Regional laboratory-epi networking is also needed as well as the regular six-monthly co-ordination meetings, and one small part of the program supports this. He proposed the program, with a budget of 212,500€, to the Committee. Discussion The position of Egypt was questioned. They attend REMESA meetings but are not operationally covered by the Tunis offices of FAO or OIE, so at the consultation with the REMESA RCU it was agreed that support to Egypt might be more appropriate under Component 2.2, but with reporting on actions to the REMESA JPC. Dr Füssel asked to what extent is REMESA concerned about the FMD situation in the Sahel countries that generates the risk to North Africa? Dr Angot indicted it was a serious concern but these countries are not under the framework of the REMESA, so in his view, support to FMD surveillance was needed but would be more appropriate under another Component, such as 3.3 (Global Laboratory Networks). Dr Domenech mentioned that OIE highly appreciated to have the consultations with EuFMD Secretariat as they had been conducted, and appreciated the effort to reach commonly agreed Outcomes. The OIE position is that the budget should be used to support the countries and not to fund the REMESA RCU Secretariat or its travel, as these are expected contributions of FAO or OIE. Conclusions -
The work plan was endorsed, with the understanding that activities involving Egypt would be considered under component 2.2 and support to FMD information gathering on risk from West Africa, under the Component 3.3;
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The Budget allocated t the component should be devoted to the support of the countries, and not for funding travel or other costs associated with REMESA regional co-ordination unit;
th
Jean Luc ANGOT will be the focal point on the Executive for the Component.
86 Executive Committee meeting of the EuFMD, 17-18 October 2013, Lyons, France
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