Second Regional Meeting in Northern Africa

45 participants attend the meeting in Tunis from veterinary institutions in Italy, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Tunisia. Delegates from the “Laboratoire Vétérinaire Central” and the “Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan” of Rabat (Morocco), the “Centre National d’Élevage et Recherche Vétérinaire” of Nouakchott (Mauritania), the “Institut de la Recherche Vétérinaire” of Tunis (Tunisia), the “Laboratoire National d’Élevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires” of Dakar (Senegal) and the National Centre for Animal Health of Tripoli (Libya), the Veterinary Faculties of the “Université Saâd Dahlab de Blida” (Algeria), the University of Tripoli and the “Ecole Nationale de Médecine Vétérinaire “in Sidi Thabet (Tunisia), met Italian colleagues from five Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali.

The meeting was opened by the Head of Cabinet of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, Boubaker Karray, the Italian Ambassador in Tunis, Lorenzo Fanara, the Director of Health Services of the Italian Ministry of Health, Silvio Borrello, the Head of Veterinary Services of Tunisia, Malek Zrelli, the representative of the OIE Sub-Regional Office for North Africa, Rachid Bouguedour, and the FAO Sub-Regional Coordinator for North Africa, Philippe Ankers.

The participants laid the foundations for future collaborations between North Africa and Italy, focusing mainly on the structure of the Scientific Network, then on administrative and management activities and action plans for the next two years. During the three days, seven groups were created that, under the guidance of an African and an Italian expert will work on specific topics such as: Food safety, Brucellosis, Vector-borne diseases, Mycoplasmosis of small ruminants, Bovine tuberculosis, Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and Anthrax.