On 10 March, Hovhannes Mkrtchyan, the Head of the Veterinary Inspection and Armen Vardanyan, the Head of the Strategy, Planning, Methodology and Monitoring Department of the Staff of the State Service for Food Safety of MOA, RA (hereinafter Service) welcomed the delegation headed by Valerie Ragan, Consultant of US Department of Agriculture, Director of the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine for the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. The delegation arrived in Armenia for the development of the program for brucellosis eradication.
During the meeting, the delegation members were introduced to the veterinary-sanitary control systems operating in our country, then discussed issues related to the creation of a joint program for the control of brucellosis. According to Valerie Ragan, the program aimed at improving activities for disease control and prevention with the Armenian partners. For this purpose epidemiological trainings for veterinarians will be held in Colorado, USA in the coming future involving representatives from Armenia.
Hovhannes Mkrtchyan, the Head of the Veterinary inspection mentioned that the Service as an authorized body encourages the format of the cooperation and is interested in working with international institutions. Recently a few cases of brucellosis, which is a zoonotic disease, were observed in the country. The Head of the Veterinary inspection especially highlighted international experience and professional advises for prevention of the disease, which can be useful and instructive.
During the meeting several issues in the framework of the cooperation of the Service and US Department of Agriculture were discussed. They also discussed the latest legislative amendments: the amended Law on “Vaterinary” and the new Law on “The state control of food safety” Agreements were reached on joint activities to be implemented in the coming future.