PRESS RELEASE 
 
PRESS/456 
1 November 2006 
 
(06-5298) 
SANITARY/PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
International bodies join forces to advise OIE an imal health and 
welfare fund 
Five international organizations met for the first time in Paris on 20 October 2006 to advise the 
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on  funding to help developing countries meet 
international standards for dealing with  disease outbreaks and related issues. 
 By tackling these diseases effectively, countries can improve the welfare of their own citizens and 
their exports can face fewer trade barriers. 
 High level representatives from the World Bank, which chaired meeting, the World Trade 
Organization (WTO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World 
Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organizati on for Animal Health (OIE), were joined by 
counterparts from significant current or potential donors, Japan, France, the US, Australia and the 
European Commission. 
 They met as the Advisory Committee for the OIE’s World Animal Health and Welfare Fund at the 
OIE’s Paris headquarters. The Advisory Commi ttee agreed on its working procedures and 
objectives, and also decided to establish a communication mechanism for consultation between partners during crisis and at other times. 
 
So far, the Fund has received US$13 million, which is being used for economic studies, 
identification of priority investments, “training of trainers”, and the evaluation of veterinary 
services in 15 pilot countries in all continents. 
 The European Commission has also announced that  it will make a contribution for promoting 
animal welfare activities by helping countries implement standards related to the OIE. This was 
with the support of the EU Member States.  
The fund was created by an OIE resolution in 2004 — voted unanimously by member countries — 
to help them strengthen their capacity for dealing with animal health and welfare.   
When the avian influenza crisis struck, the OIE, FAO and WHO advocated the use of this facility to 
promote good governance worldwide so that countries can improve early detection and respond more rapidly to animal disease outbreaks, including those that can affect humans (zoonoses). A 
particular emphasis is on developing countries. 
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 “When dealing with animal health governance and emergencies, it is crucial to have a mechanism 
between partner international organisations and donors for synergies and better routing of limited 
resources”, the OIE Director General, Dr Bernard Vallat said commenting on the meeting. “In the good governance relating to food safety and to an imal disease prevention and control, it is crucial 
to ensure early detection and rapid response and therefore the international community needs this 
facility”, he added.  
The Paris-based OIE, and Rome-based FAO — which recently launched the Crisis Management 
Centre (CMC) with the support of OIE — deal directly with animal health issues, including animal diseases that are transmissible to humans, the latter being dealt with also by the Geneva based 
WHO. The Washington-based World Bank handles development financing. The Geneva-based WTO 
has a Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures agreement and committee dealing with trade measures relating to protection of food safety and animal and plant health. 
Weblinks 
OIE: www.oie.int  
FAO: www.fao.org  
World Bank: www.worldbank.org  
WHO: www.who.int  
WTO-SPS: www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps_e/sps_e.htm   
 
  
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