7th meeting of the REMESA Joint Permanent Committee

The seventh meeting of the Joint Permanent Committee (JPC) of the Mediterranean Animal Health Network (REMESA) was held in Faro, Portugal, on 13 and 14 June 2013. CVOs and representatives of the ten member countries of REMESA, and representatives of the European Commission, FAO and OIE were present. The meeting was co-chaired by Portugal and Libya (which hold the co-presidency of REMESA for 2013). The CVO of Malta and the representative of the CVO of Greece participated as new members of REMESA. Cyprus, which is also a new member of REMESA, was excused.

After the words of welcome of the Director General of the Veterinary Services of Portugal, the representative of FAO noted the relevance of this particular initiative, thanking Portugal for hosting. The OIE representative noted the consistency of the technical and financial support of REMESA partners and the presence of all member countries at the meeting in Faro; these two points can be considered signs of encouragement and support for the development of the network.

Group picture. Picture (c) V. Brioudes (oie) 2013.

The need for a regional PPR strategy associated with the preparation and validation of a regional PPR control plan was stressed in particular by Morocco. The OIE Representative for North Africa in Tunis announced the organization mid-October 2013 of a meeting of the North African CVO aimed at formulating a FMD and PPR regional strategy and to continue the work on OIE official status. This regional PPR and FMD strategy will be developed in coordination with the GF-TADs.

In their conclusion, both the Portuguese and Libyan co-presidents reminded participants that this JPC meeting was an opportunity to discuss new topics and themes for the REMESA (SNGTV and private veterinary organisations, GDS and farmers organisations, REMESA/EU-FMD cooperation and, finally, REMESA/EFSA cooperation). The next meeting of the JPC should take place in late 2013 (Presidency Libya – Portugal) or during the last week of March 2014, as proposed by the representative of Malta, who will hold the co-presidency in 2014 with Mauritania.

All pictures (c) V. Brioudes (oie) 2013, except where mentioned otherwise.