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Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Dr Yu Kangzhen, and the Director General of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Dr Monique Eloit, reviewed developments in the situation and the prevention and control measures applied since the declaration of the first case of African swine fever in Liaoning province in August 2018.
The People’s Republic (P.R.) of China is facing a major crisis for the pig production sector following the occurrence of African swine fever on its territory. Noting that P.R. China is the world’s leading producer of pigs and pork meat, and the Chinese market is virtually self-sufficient in terms of domestic consumption, Dr Eloit emphasised that controlling the spread of the disease to farms and regions that are currently free is of crucial importance to limit the socio-economic and commercial repercussion of the epizootic.
Dr Yu Kangzhen and Dr Monique Eloit also discussed conditions relating to the operational implementation of concepts recognised by the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code that enable safe management of trade flows, such as compartmentalisation.
Lastly, while acknowledging the urgent need to present a proposal for a global African swine fever control strategy to OIE Member Countries at the earliest opportunity, the two parties examined initiatives that will be developed without delay at regional level. Vice Minister Yu offered his support for the creation of a regional group of “African swine fever” experts under the auspices of the regional GF TADs, a first inception meeting of which could be held in P.R. China to define the terms of reference and the work programme of the group.
Monday February 4, 2019/ OIE.
http://www.oie.int
