RCG13

13th meeting of the Regional Core Group for Europe

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The 13th meeting of the Regional Core Group for Europe (RCG-13)  has been held as a videoconference, hosted by the OIE Regional Representation in Moscow – RCG Secretariat. The meeting was chaired by Dr Maris Balodis, President of the Bureau of OIE Regional Commission for Europe, OIE Delegate and CVO of Latvia.

All RCG members participated in the meeting as well as many observers from the European Commission, OIE Headquarters, OIE Regional and Sub Regional Representations (Moscow, Brussels and Nur-Sultan). The Agenda was focused on OIE standards setting process, global and regional activities of the OIE (wildlife framework, evaluation, and further development of PVS Pathway, Animal Welfare Platform), and particularly on organization of the 88th OIE General Session (GS).

A specific attention was paid on the preparation of the Regional Commission meeting and endorsement its agenda, scheduled for the first day of GS (24th of May), namely:

  • Outcomes of the 29th Regional Conference in Europe, and presentation of technical item (with questionnaire) selected by the European OIE Delegates, for upcoming 30rd Regional Conference (2022)
  • OIE Animal Welfare platform for Europe – 3rd Action Plan (2021-2023)
  • Selection of three strategic topics of global interest to be addressed by the OIE through various means of communication (e.g. Scientific Review, Newsletter, seminars, workshops)

In addition, ahead of the GS at the end of May, there was a specific focus on the two following topics:

  • Comments on OIE standards proposed for adoption by OIE Assembly, and the possibility to support them on behalf of whole region of Europe,
  • Elections to different OIE bodies; new composition of the RCG and Animal Welfare Steering Group for Europe after these elections, and technical tools for voting provided by OIE.

The Chairman of the RCG, Dr Maris Balodis, underlined the importance of the discussed topics for the European region, as well, he expressed the RCG support to the new initiative of the OIE Collaborating Centre on the Economics of Animal Health.

The next RCG meeting is planned before the General Session  (May 20th) as video conference.