ISLAMABAD: A two-day quadrilateral meeting to develop a mutually beneficial regional approach towards trans-boundary animal disease control between Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan concluded in Tehran on Tuesday, said an official of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The official added that veterinary officials from the four countries discussed areas of mutual concern and improved coordination to address trans-boundary animal diseases (TADs) with the common objective of finding effective ways to monitor health of the livestock and to rapidly contain outbreaks when they occur.

They conducted several bilateral meetings and signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs). They also proposed the development of a regional roadmap to control TADs.

By signing these MoUs, the official said that Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Tajikistan hoped to strengthen the collaboration and coordination on the control of trans-boundary animal disease such as the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and peste des petits ruminants (PPR), to benefit the lives and livelihoods of local communities while improving economic growth through animal health and production.

Furthermore, he said, that the international community would benefit from thetransparent disease reporting and gain a better understanding of the risks posed by FMD and PPR. The meeting was financially supported by the Japanese government and FAO project in Afghanistan on building resilience and self-reliance of livestock keepers by improving control of FMD and other TADs.

The project was launched in 2014 through funding of more than $16 million and aims at assisting herders to enhance the health of their livestock.

It also supports annual bilateral meetings of the neighboring countries to address common issues such as the impact of animal movements and the related risks of diseases spreading across borders.

Outbreaks of animal diseases like FMD and PPR, also known as sheep and goat plague, are a constant threat to both better nutrition and farmers` incomes. As these diseases can spread rapidly and across national borders, there is an urgent call for greater cross-border collaboration to prevent and control trans-boundary animal diseases.

Livestock-dependent populations in border areas include nomadic herders who move their stock along traditional routes between winter and summer pastures. The project aims to assist these groups in prevention and control of animal diseases. In Afghanistan alone, the most recent estimate of the nation-wide number of indigenous sheep, goats and cattle was in excess of 10 million.