Valletta, Malta
8th meeting of the REMESA Joint Permanent Committee
March 28, 2014
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The 9th meeting of the Joint Permanent Committee (JPC) of the Mediterranean Animal Health Network (REMESA) was held in Tunis, Tunisia, on 3-4 November 2014. The meeting was attended by about 30 people including Chief Veterinary Officers (CVOs) of REMESA member countries, representatives from International and Regional Organisations as well as experts from International Reference Laboratories (European Commission, Arab Maghreb Union, FAO, OIE, ANSES, CIRAD, EU-FMD and IZSLER Brescia).
Picture (left) From the left to the right: Dr Monique Eloit (OIE Deputy Director General), Dr Nemine Lemrabott (Mauritania; co-presidency of REMESA 2014), His excellency Mr. Lassaad Lachaal, Tunisia’s Minister of Agriculture, Dr Anthony Gruppetta (Malta; co-presidency of REMESA 2014), Dr Benoit Horemans (FAO Representative Tunis and coordinator FAO/SNE)
The JPC was co-chaired by Malta and Mauritania (which hold the co-presidency of REMESA for 2014).
The meeting was officially opened by his Excellency Mr. Lassaad Lachaal, Tunisia?s Minister of Agriculture along with Dr Monique Eloit (Deputy Director General of the OIE) and Dr Benoit Horemans (FAO Representative Tunis and coordinator FAO/SNE)
The Minister emphasized the importance of the role of the REMESA platform as an essential network where to continue to share information between countries for responding with efficacy to the continuous challenges faced by the countries in the Mediterranean basin in the fields of animal and public health.
The agenda of the meeting was mainly focused on discussion concerning the priority diseases identified by the network such as FMD, PPR, Rabies and RVF, as well as vaccine bank implementation.
Dr Monique Eloit presented the model of OIE vaccine bank (an innovative OIE tool) illustrating the positive experiences of the OIE in implementing and managing such a model of vaccine bank in other regions of the world along with the advantages for the countries which benefit from such mechanism. In this context – and amongst the major conclusions of the meeting – it is worth mentioning that a resolution was approved by all the participants attending the 9th JPC of REMESA with the objective of entrusting the OIE in the implementation of a regional vaccine bank for FMD.
In 2015, Greece and Algeria will hold the REMESA presidency
