Control and prevention of mad cow disease to be established

Belgrade, Feb 3, 2004 - Serbian Minister of Agriculture and Water Management Stojan Jevtic and Swiss Ambassador to Serbia-Montenegro Gaudenz Ruf signed today a Memorandum of Understanding related to a project of building capacities for supervision and protection against the mad cow disease and other animal diseases in Serbia to 2006.

The Swiss government will earmark 4.1 million Swiss franks for the financing the implementation of the project which involves personnel training, building capacities for risk analysis and management, and the system control and prevention of the mad cow disease in Serbia. The project will follow the provisions of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organisation and the European Union regulations.

The project envisages training of domestic staff in international institutions, who are then expected to pass their knowledge to employees in Serbia's veterinary health sector.