Zhang Zhongqiu, State Chief Veterinary Officer, and Dr Hirofumi Kugita from OIE Regional Representation for Asia and the Pacific (OIE RRAP) attended and addressed the opening ceremony.

In order to improve the regional prevention and control capacity, China initiated and financed the Program of Swine Disease Control in Asia through an OIE fund in 2014.

As an important activity under the framework of the Program, this training class is designed to make full use of China’s technological advantages in prevention and control of such swine diseases as highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), and enhance the diagnostic capacity of laboratories within the region, in a bid to lay a foundation for progressive control of major swine diseases.

Zhang proposed that swine disease reference laboratories within the region and national veterinary diagnostic institutions of all OIE members build up a laboratory information sharing platform, improve the cooperation network of diagnostic laboratories within the region in a step-by-step way, and facilitate epidemic diagnosis and the overall prevention and control capacity.

During the training, competent experts from OIE-acknowledged disease reference laboratories of China will give lectures and demonstrate diagnostic technologies of serology, virology and molecular biology laboratories, and provide guidance to trainees in relevant experiments.

This training is organized by China Animal Disease Control Center (CADCC). Representatives from VB of MOA, CADCC, OIE RRAP, and nine countries and regions including Cambodia and Indonesia attended this training.