Activities of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe and Regional Representation for Eastern Europe

(May 2009 - May 2010)

Prof. Dr. Nikola T. Belev

In Memoriam: Dr. Petro Verbitskiy 1953 - 2010

On February 12th, 2010 passed away an honourable man, taken too soon he will be greatly missed and always remembered

1999 - 2005 -CVO of Ukraine and OIE Delegate Since January 2009 CVO and OIE Delegate 2003 - 2006 A Secretary General of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe

Table of contents:
Introduction Regional Commission for Europe - Activities Regional Representation for Eastern Europe (RR-EE) - Activities Missions carried out by the OIE Regional Representation Meetings organised with the support of the OIE RR-EE Meetings attended by RR-EE representing the OIE Future activities Conclusions and Proposals

Introduction:
53 Members of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yug. Rep. of Macedonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldavia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan.

Geographic coverage of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe (currently includes 53 Members)

http://www.rr-europe.oie.int/

Regional Commission for Europe Activities

Re-election of the Bureau of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe during the 77-th OIE General Assembly of Delegates in May 2009 for a new 3-year mandate.
President Vice-President Vice-President Secretary General

Dr Nikola T. Belev (Bulgaria)

Dr Kazimieras Lukauskas (Lithuania)

Dr Patrick Rogan (Ireland)

Dr Nihat Pakdil (Turkey)

The OIE Regional Commission for Europe supported the efforts aiming at increasing of public awareness toward rabies. On September 28th, 2009, all Members of the Region were invited to organize a special event in line with World Rabies Day initiative of the Alliance for Rabies Control (ARC).

Regional Commission for Europe Activities

A meeting of the Bureau of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe took place in Sofia (Bulgaria) on September 30th, 2009, kindly hosted by the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture and Food. During the meeting following topics were discussed:
preparation of the 5-th OIE Strategic Plan (2011-2015); - Discussion of the amendments to the OIE Basic Texts; - Epizootic Situation within the countries of the European Region; - Education of Veterinary Specialists; - Animal Welfare; - Food Safety within the frames of OIE mandate;
- Accomplishment of the 4-th OIE Strategic Plan (2006-2010) and

Regional Commission for EuropeActivities

- Aspects of use of the OIE World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) and arrears of notification regarding epizootic situation; - Structure of National Veterinary Services of the countries of the European Region; - Proposal for organizing of Working Group for Evaluation of the economic losses due to animal infectious diseases headed by Dr. Romano Marabelli;

Epizootic situation in Europe

- Main concerns of the Region in regard with the epizootic situation from
May 2009 to May 2010 were Bluetongue, Brucellosis, Rabies, African swine fever (ASF) and Classical swine fever (CSF). - Some sporadic cases of Avian Influenza - H5N1 showed that the threat has still not disappeared.

Introduction of the RR for Eastern Europe

(1)

Main objectives of the OIE Regional Representation for Eastern Europe have been as follows:
- Implementation of the 4th OIE Strategic Plan. - Improvement of competence and expertise of veterinarians (capacity-building programmes). - Meetings with members of Governments and Parliaments of the following OIE Members: Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria. - Distribution of permanent updated information regarding the outcome of the OIE General Session, Regional Projects, Seminars and other important regional and global activities to the Prime Ministers and CVOs of all Member countries from the region.

Main objectives of RR-EE

(2)

- Updating the Web site with the activities of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe. - Application of the PVS Tool for evaluation of national Veterinary Services in some OIE Members in Eastern Europe. - Increased contacts and cooperation with mass media. - Enhanced collaboration between the office of the OIE SubRegional Representation in Brussels and the European Union.

OIE Regional Representation for Eastern Europe

Prof. Dr. Nikola T. Belev - Regional Representative, e-mail: rr.easteurope@oie.int tel: (+359) 2 985 11 311 Dr. Caroline Plant Sub Regional Representative, e-mail: c.plante@oie.int tel: (+32) 2 235 86 13 Mrs. Rina Kostova - Secretary, e-mail: r.kostova@oie.int Dr. Stanislav Ralchev - Expert, e-mail: s.ralchev@oie.int Dr. Anatoly Vlasov - Expert, e-mail: a.vlasov@oie.int Mr. Mustafa Kichuk supplier and assistant tel: (+359) 2 985 11 310 tel: (+359) 2 985 11 309

tel: (+359) 2 985 11 309

Official visits and governmental meetings

Country Departure date Return date Name/purpose of the activity Meeting with Governmental officials, including the Minister of Agriculture Mrs. Elena Skrinik and the Head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Mr. Sergey Dankvert

Russia

4 June

6 June 2009

Bulgaria

25 July 2009

31 July 2009

Meeting with Mr Suleimenov, Chairman of the State Inspection Committee in the agro-industrial complex in the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan and Dr. M. Naidenov, Minister of Agriculture and Food of Bulgaria Meeting with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Mr. Boyko Borissov, initiated by the Minister of Agriculture and Foods, Dr. Miroslav Naydenov in order to represent the OIE structure and RR-EE activities, to discuss the epizootic situation in Europe, food safety of the products of animal origin, animal welfare, environmental protection and OIE WAHIS System. Meeting with the new-elected UNESCO Secretary General Mme Irina Bokova

Bulgaria

22 October 2009

22 October 2009

France

25 November 2009

27 November 2009

Official visits and governmental meetings

Country

Departure date

Return date

Name/purpose of the activity

Ukraine

09 March

13 March 2010

Meeting with the new-appointed Minister of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine, Mr. Mikola Prisyajnuk, his deputies and representatives of the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Science Meeting with the OIE Delegate of Serbia, Dr. Zoran Micovic, Dr. Zvonimir Rot Adviser of the CVO and Dr. Budimir Plavsic Head of Animal health and Welfare Department at the Veterinary Directorate of Serbia

Serbia

19 April

19 April 2010

Meetings, organised with the support of the OIE RR-EE

Meeting Country Dates Purpose of the meeting Presentation of the latest OIE standards and regulations in respect to Animal Welfare to OIE Delegates and Focal Points. Also, it created an opportunity for the Delegates and Focal Point to present their practical experience and opinion in regard to this matter Discussion of variety aspects of the activities of the Regional Commission in regard to Fulfilment of the OIE 4th Strategic Plan, preparations of the next OIE Strategic Plan, International Cooperation Programmes, Epizootic Situation, Food Safety, Contribution, and several other topics. To provide training for National Focal Points for Wildlife in regard to fulfilment of the OIE Member obligations.

OIE Seminar on Animal Welfare

Turkey

16-17 July 2009

Meeting of the Bureau of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe

Bulgaria

30 September 2009

Workshop for OIE National Focal Points for Wildlife

France

4-6 November 2009

Meetings, organised with the support of the RR-EE

Meeting Kick-off Meeting of the IZS Teramo Project on Implementation of surveillance, prophylaxis and contingency plans for brucellosis, tuberculosis, rabies, foot and mouth diseases, and anthrax in CIS countries" OIE Workshop for National Focal Points for Aquatic Animal Diseases Coordination Meeting for Western Balkan Countries Country Dates Purpose of the meeting The main project objectives are to support participating countries in the planning and implementation of surveillance and control activities of mentioned animal diseases. The list of beneficiary countries includes: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine.

Ukraine

11-12 March 2010

Croatia

21-23 April 2010

Postponed for November 2010 due to the unexpected volcanic eruption in Iceland and cancelling of all European flights. Better coordinate the current and future actions in regard with major TADs in the region, in particular CSF and Rabies

Bulgaria

11 May 2010

Meetings, attended by RR-EE representing OIE

Meeting Country Dates

77th General Session of OIE

France

24-29 May 2009

World Grain Forum 2009

Russia

5-6 June 2009

FVE/TAIEX Conference on One Health: effective herd health control.

Bulgaria

23-24 June 2009

Veterinary Medicine Day Celebration

Ukraine

6 August 2009

Meetings, attended by RREE representing OIE

Meeting GTFS Tripartite Final Review Meeting, Controlling Transboundary Animal Diseases in Central Asian Countries 78th Session of the Executive Committee of the EU-FMD Commission West Eurasia FMD Control Roadmap 2020 Evolving Veterinary Education for safer world FVE/TAIEX Conference on One Health: Training on Zoonotic Diseases TAIEX Workshop on: Assessment of EU standards for Veterinary Teaching Establishments Workshop for OIE National Focal Points for Wildlife Country Dates

Turkey

5-6 October 2009

Turkey

6-7 October 2009

Turkey

7-9 October 2009

France

12-14 October 2009

Montenegro

20 October 2009

Bulgaria

26 October 2009

France

4-6 of November 2009

Meetings, attended by RREE representing OIE

Meeting Regional Workshop on the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Third Meeting of the Regional Steering Committee of the GF-TADs for Europe Opening ceremony of a new Master program on Veterinary Administration in the Thracian University 79th SESSION of the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) CVO meeting on IPA Project on the Eradication monitoring and control of Classical Swine Fever and Rabies in Western Balkan Country Uzbekistan Dates 16 19 February 2010

Belgium

24-25 February 2010

Bulgaria

04 March 2010

Sweden

16 -17 March 2010

Serbia

26 27 April 2010

Future activities
Capacity building programme 2010
Country Belarus Estimated date 30June2July2010 Name/purpose of the activity OIESeminarforNewDelegates OIESeminarforVeterinaryMedicinalProducts focalpoints

Serbia

2628July2010

Kazakhstan

2124September2010

24thConferenceoftheOIERegionalCommission forEurope

Ukraine

35November2010

OIESeminaronthecostofanimaldiseases

Croatia

November2010

OIE Workshop for National Focal Points for Aquatic Animals

Conclusions and Proposals

- The problem of Veterinary Services structure still remains in some countries in the Region and the main attention has to be further focused on it (ex: establishment of minor food safety agencies or other secondary structures).

Conclusions and Proposals

Necessity of stronger commitment of all member countries from the region in the events organized or co-organized by the OIE (to include EU member states, not only countries from East-European region); regular and on-time reporting on epizootic status and feed back to the initiatives under the auspices of the OIE headquarter and RR-EE

Conclusions and Proposals

Rabies to be a further priority in 2010 and a necessity of unified rabies control and eradication programme for Europe;

Acknowledgements
The OIE RR-EE wants to express its thanks to Dr B.Vallat, OIE Director General, Dr M. Eloit, OIE Deputy Director General, all Heads of Departments and their staff for their cooperation and constant support rendered to the activities organized by the Regional Presentation.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the European Commission (DG SANCO and TAIEX Office), FAO, World Bank and all intergovernmental, as well as NGOs for their cooperation and permanent support rendered with regard to the implementation of the OIE program for the European region. Our activities and their success depend, to a great extent, on the active participation and unceasing support rendered by the Governments and OIE Delegates from Europe.

OIE Regional Representation for Eastern Europe

55 Hristo Botev Blvd, Office Rooms 309, 310 and 311, 1040 Sofia, Bulgaria

Thank you for your attention!