Enhancing the Capacities of the Serbian Authorities in Zoonoses and Food Borne Disease Control Kick-Off Meeting

The European Union Twinning Project for Serbia “Enhancing the capacities of the Serbian authorities in zoonoses and food borne disease control“ will be implemented during the next two years by a Hungarian French consortium in collaboration with the Veterinary Directorate of the Ministry of Health and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia.

The Member States public authorities involved in the project will be the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture and National Food Safety Office and the French Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

 

The official Kick-Off Event has been held on Tuesday, 04 April 2017, at 10.00 a.m. in Belgrade at Palace of Serbia, in the conference room “Beograd”.

 

The ceremony has been opened by Mr. Nenad Petrović, who welcomed the participants. Mr. Attila Juhas and Mr. Bogdan Igić, State Secretaries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection opened the event.  Mr. Attila Juhas highlighted that the European Commission and the EU Delegation in Serbia are leading partners of Serbia on the way to the EU accession through pre-accession IPA support as well as through other funds which are used for agriculture and rural development.

„This project will improve food safety and public health in general, but represents also significant assistance to state bodies of the Republic of Serbia in the field of harmonization with the EU standards in the context of the negotiation to open chapter 12”.

 

The Ambassador of Hungary Mr. Attila Pintér and the Ambassador of France Mrs. Christine Moro underlined the already existing long lasting and sustainable relations between their countries and the Republic of Serbia in very different fields, and especially in the area of agriculture. 

 

Mr Lajos Bognar the Hungarian Project Leader stated that the objective of the project is to provide assistance to the relevant Serbian Authorities so as to strengthen their capacity in zoonoses, food borne disease and anti-microbial resistance control and further alignment with EU requirements, through harmonization of legal framework and strengthening of institutional and professional capacities.

In order to provide a high level public health and consumer protection with regard to food safety and public health in general, it is required to establish a system for integrated monitoring of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and related antimicrobial resistance. Food-borne outbreaks need to receive proper epidemiological investigation. Data will be collected, evaluated and reported on national and international level. The cooperation and sustainable collaboration between the Human and Veterinary Authorities is essential in all fields and public health issues.

The different activities will link the components and involve public authorities, stakeholders and the general public. The budget is of EUR 1.000.000, of which EUR 50.000 co-financed by Serbia.

The project will be implemented within the three components:

Component 1: Development of strategic, institutional and legal framework for detection, surveillance, prevention, control and reporting on zoonoses, food-borne diseases and AMR defined and developed in compliance with EU requirements.

Component 2: Improvement of professional capacity of the competent authorities to implement and enforce standards and regulations on zoonotic, food-borne diseases and anti-microbial resistance control via implementation of educative seminars, workshops and other kind of knowhow exchanges.

Component 3: Increasing of awareness amongst the stakeholders and general public on the problem of zoonotic, food borne diseases and anti-microbial resistance control (control activities, prevention, EU standards andrequirements etc.).

For further information, please contact:

Solveig Kuhse, Resident Twinning Advisor (RTA)

E-mail: zoonoses.twinning@minpolj.gov.rs

Phone: +381 11 3132883

Address:  Veterinary Directorate,

Omladinskih brigada 1,

Office No. 108,

Belgrade