26 Jan 2016 – Infectious agents do not respect country boundaries, especially viruses that easily adapt to their surrounding environments and sometimes gain the ability to cause severe diseases in animals and humans. For these reasons, it is critical for neighboring countries such as Viet Nam and China to collaborate closely for effective prevention and control of a potential transboundary and emerging animal diseases. 

The fourth Viet Nam - China Bilateral Meeting on collaboration to address transboundary animal diseases took place in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (FAO ECTAD) and financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Thirty-four representatives from the governments of Vietnam and China gathered in Ha Noi on 26 – 27 January 2016 to share information about disease outbreaks and trade requirements, animal and zoonotic diseases surveillance results, value chain studies on both sides of the border, and to develop road map for to establishing safer trade of animals and animal products between the two countries.

As Viet Nam and China share a long border, unofficial livestock trade is unavoidable to keep up with the market demand for animal protein. Both countries agreed to facilitate safer trade of poultry and cloven hoof animals in order to minimize the introduction and spread of priority diseases including Foot and Mouth Disease and Avian Influenza.

“This cross-border meeting is a first and important step in evaluating the feasibility of safer trade among Viet Nam and China. Over the past two days, we witnessed Viet Nam and China’s strong willingness and interest to keep both countries safer from transboundary and emerging infectious diseases. We hope this cross- border meeting will serve as a milestone for effective disease control in the region and enhance public health security” stated Dr. Scott Newman, the Senior Technical Coordinator of FAO ECTAD Viet Nam

The meeting, facilitated by Dr. Wantanee Kalpravidh from the FAO ECTAD Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, concluded with development of a roadmap and timeline for a results based collaboration to enable safer trade of animals and animal products. . The meeting also agreed to establish a technical working group to review and suggest necessary modifications to import and export requirements, to conduct feasibility study and to organize a stakeholder consultation before the end of 2016. The next meeting is planned to be organized in China in the first quarter of 2017.