6th Western Balkan CVO Forum
for Communication and Cooperation
Budapest , HU 13 Sep 2024
The 6th Western Balkan CVO Forum for Communication and Cooperation (WB CVO Forum) was held on 13 September 2024 in Budapest, Hungary.
The meeting was attended and participated in the work Chief Veterinary Officers and representatives of the Veterinary Services of the ADEWB project beneficiary countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*1, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia), supported by representatives from DG SANTE, WOAH, and the ADEWB II Project Team.
Dr Bekim Hoxha, Executive Director (CVO) of Food and Veterinary Agency Kosovo, chaired the meeting. He thanked to the members of the WB CVO Forum for their constructive cooperation.
Dr Saša Bošković, Director of the Veterinary office of Bosnia and Herzegovina proposed that the 7th WB CVO Forum for Communication and Cooperation be held in Trebinje in the period of 4-6 December.
According to the project work plan the primary objective of the meeting was to enhance regional communication, cooperation, and coordination among Chief Veterinary Officers (CVOs) in the Western Balkan countries, and the main topic of the 6th WB CVO Forum was control of Peste des petit ruminants (PPR).
The 6th WB CVO meeting was held upon the finalisation of the Summit on vaccination as a preventive tool (Summit), in Budapest, with the participation of all Chief Veterinary Officers from EU, EFTA and Western Balkan countries. Hungarian veterinary service kindly invited CVOs from Western Balkan countries to participated at the Summit.
As vaccination was a main topic during the Summit, several EU CVOs shared their recent experience using vaccination against infectious diseases. The European Commission (EU Health and Food Safety and EU Neighbourhood &Enlargement) presented the legal framework and the possibilities to support veterinary services in the WB region to implement vaccination campaigns. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) representative highlighted the need for cross-country cooperation.
CVOs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo gave a presentations at the Summit meeting on animal health control in their countries, including examples of successful implementation of vaccination policy against Lumpy skin disease (LSD) in previous years.
The presentations from the Summit on vaccination as a preventive tool (Summit) in Budapest may be downloaded with the credentials.
At the beginning of the 6th WB CVO Forum, ADEWB II Project Team shared progress and the upcoming work plan during the reporting period. According to the Agenda, CVOs of the Western Balkan countries continue with discussion on PPR epidemiological situation in the region, following the presentations held by representatives of WOAH representative for Europe, EC DG SANTE, SNKE on PPR, national PPR expert from Greece and national PPR expert from Romania.
The presentations from the 6th WB CVO Forum continued along with the adopted Agenda may be downloaded with the credentials.
Director of the Food and Veterinary Agency of Kosovo* thanked to the members of the WB CVO Forum for their constructive cooperation.
The Director of the Veterinary office of Bosnia and Herzegovina proposed that the 7th WB CVO Forum for Communication and Cooperation be held in Trebinje, BiH, in the period of 4-6 December 2024.
Minutes of the meeting 6th Western Balkan CVO Forum for Communication and Cooperation (WB CVO Forum, Budapest, 13 September 2024) can be downloaded here.
