15th meeting of the Regional Core Group for Europe

The 15th meeting of the Regional Core Group for Europe (RCG) has been held as a videoconference, hosted by the OIE Regional Representation in Moscow (RCG Secretariat), chaired by Dr Maris Balodis, President of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe, OIE Delegate and CVO of Latvia.

Ten RCG members participated in the meeting as well as observers from the European Commission, OIE Headquarters, OIE Regional and Sub Regional Representations (Moscow, Brussels, and Nur-Sultan).

The comprehensive agenda covered a range of topics.

Global and strategic activities :

• Activities of the OIE Council – update
• Proposal of renaming of OIE RR and SRR offices and geographical activities
• Getting ready for the 89th OIE General Session (May 2022)
• OIE Corporate rebranding: update from OIE Communication Unit
• OIE Observatory: progress and update
• Global Steering Committee of GF-TADs: strategy, recommendations

Regional activities:

• OIE Standard setting, regional priorities and common position of Europe region
• ASF: OIE standards, challenges, impact on trade
• OIE regional activities in 2022: planning, needs of Members
• 2021 Activities of the OIE Animal Welfare Platform for Europe
• One Health Coordination mechanism in Europe

Administrative matters:

• Composition of RCG, priorities, working plan 2022
• Conclusions; next RCG meeting

The Chairman of the RCG, Dr Maris Balodis, underlined the importance of the discussed topics for the European region, cross-regional cooperation, and feedback to be provided to Members and OIE Director General.  The next RCG meeting is planned in not later than April 2022, and it was suggested to take place in Georgia in hybrid format if this will be possible.