Paris, France
17th meeting of the REMESA Joint Permanent Committee
November 28, 2018
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REMESA map
Under the auspice of the co-presidency of Egypt and Cyprus – the Joint OIE and FAO secretariat (based in Tunis) – organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture of Egypt the 18th meeting of the REMESA Joint Permanent Committee that was held in Cairo (Egypt) on 26-27 June 2019.
The meeting was attended by about 40 people including the Chief Veterinary Officers of REMESA member countries or their representatives from Egypt, France, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Spain, Greece, Tunisia, Mauritania, Cyprus, Jordan and Malta. The representative from the European Commission (Dr Moritz Klemm – DG SANTE), the representative of Union Maghreb Arab (Ms Faouzia Chakiri Boulouiz – UMA) also participated in the meeting. Additional institutions were asked to participate in the meeting for providing specific inputs (see presentations below).
The meeting was co-chaired by Dr Mahmoud Mohamed Ali Abdelhakim (Chief Veterinary Officer of Egypt and OIE Delegate) and Dr Christodoulos Charalambous Pipis (Chief Veterinary Officer of Cyprus and OIE Delegate).
An overview of the major animal diseases situation in the Mediterranean basin was provided (FMD, PPR, rabies….) as well as other diseases were cited that could be of interest for REMESA and present in the Mediterranean basin (Brucellosis, tuberculosis….). REMESA countries also had the opportunity to update their epidemiological situation concerning FMD and PPR for paving the way to a more detailed discussion on how to improve coordination and harmonisation of FMD and PPR prevention and control in North Africa and Middle East. In particular, it was highlighted by Tunisia the need of conducting two vaccination campaigns per year (by using appropriate vaccines) instead of one in order to avoid FMD to become endemic in the North Africa region. In this context, EuFMD updated the audience with the work-plan 2017-2019 and reported on recent meetings conducted in North Africa and Middle East including the outcomes of the workshop on Post-Vaccination Monitoring held in 2019 in North Africa and about the workshops being conducted on surveillance evaluation and animal mobility.
A session was dedicated to discuss the new prion disease detected in camels in North Africa and to update about emerging equine diseases of interest for the Mediterranean basin as well as on MERS-CoV with the objective of improving early warning and surveillance (see presentations below).
The second day of the meeting was dedicated to discuss an Italian proposal in order reinforce the regional scientific cooperation within REMESA through the identification, the development and coordination of scientific and technical initiatives, including research projects. To this end, a specific Resolution was approved by REMESA member countries entrusting the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia (IZS-SI) based in Palermo (Italy) to make available a facility to ease the organization of scientific meetings and provide the administrative support to the coordination team composed by scientists from different REMESA countries.
Group picture. Picture © A. Ripani (oie) 2019
Programme (download the presentations below) :
Session 1:
01. Overview on animal diseases situation in the Mediterranean basin – (OIE SRR for North Africa)
02. Update on Global FMD Control Strategy – (FAO HQ)
03. EuFMD work-plan 2015-2019: support to REMESA – (EuFMD)
04. FMD in Tunisia: Update situation – (Tunisia)
05. FMD Control Measures Experience in Egypt (Egypt)
06. FMD in Libya (Libya)
Session 2:
07. Implementation of the PPR Global Eradication Programme (GEP) – (FAO/OIE Secretariat for the PPR GEP) In French
08. Epidemiological situation of Peste des Petits Ruminants in Libya – (Libya) – (Libya)
09. Prion disease in dromedary camels in North Africa – (Italy)
10. Emerging Equine diseases – (Italy)
11. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – (FAO Egypt)
Session 3:
12. Emergency Assistance for Outbreaks of Deadly Zoonotic Disease (HPAI, RVF, Rabies) in Libya – (FAO/SNE)
13. Supporting official animal and plant products’ inspection services for in Tunisia – (FAO/SNE) In French
All pictures (c) FAO ECTAD (Egypt) 2019.
