Trilateral Meeting with Ukraine, Poland and the United States Regional Collaboration on Biological Security, Safety and Surveillance

03 Oct 2016 - 04 Oct 2016

On 3-4 October, 2016 a Trilateral Meeting with representatives of Ukraine, Poland and the United States entitled, “Regional Collaboration on Biological Security, Safety and Surveillance” took place in Lviv, Ukraine. Each delegation contained government officers and scientific experts who discussed regional (Ukraine and Poland) cooperation in the area of surveillance and prevention of especially dangerous infectious diseases including: zoonotic diseases in Ukraine and neighboring countries. The delegation of Ukraine included the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mr. O. Kapustin), Ministry of Health (Dr. N. Vydaiko), Ministry of Defense (Mr. M. Usatyi) and State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection (Mr. M. Bilous). Scientific experts from the Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary-Sanitary Expertise (Kyiv) and Lviv Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene also took an active part in the discussion. The delegation of Poland was led by the Chief of Veterinary Officer of Poland (Mr. W. Skorupski) and contained a number of scientific experts from the National Veterinary Research Institute (Pulawy, Poland). The United States delegation included representatives of the US Department of Defense (Mr. K. Garrett, Mr. G. Braunstein, Mr. W. Sosnowski, Mrs. J. Wintrol, etc.) and representatives of Black and Veatch and Metabiota Corporations (Mr. D. Mustra, Dr. M. Guttieri, Mr. S. Anderson, Mr. T. Borth, etc.). The STCU was represented by the Executive Director Mr. Curtis Bjelajac and Senior Specialist Dr. V. Pashynska.
The meeting focused on existing frameworks, regulatory coordination, and on-going cooperative projects in research, surveillance and diagnostics of a number of dangerous zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, leptospirosis, Crimea Congo hemorrhagic fever, brucellosis, etc.. A special session was devoted to the current situation with the increase in cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) in both Ukraine and Poland. The delegates discussed countermeasures and possible cooperation between Ukrainian and Polish veterinary services and specialists in order to develop more effective approaches to eradicate and control the spread of ASF in Ukraine, Poland, and other European countries.