Preparatory meeting for the OIE 88th General Session with 53 OIE Member Countries of European region

On Friday, the 12^th of March 2021, OIE Delegates from 52 countries in the European region convened for a videoconference meeting in preparation of the 88^th General Session of the World Assembly of National Delegates of the OIE in May 2021, with more than 80 people attending overall.

Opening words from Drs Eloit, Balodis, Plavsic, and Balbo gave way to a comprehensive presentation of the 88^th General Session by Dr Caya.

2020 has been a year where veterinary services have been led to react on a day to day basis during Covid-19 pandemic, and have managed to fully adapt to changing conditions: their activity within OIE reflects this, and so does the decision to host the OIE 88^th General Session fully online. Lessons learnt from the past year mean that:

• The OIE General Session itself will focus on general resolutions and limit the time for discussion of standards.
• Webinars will be organized ahead of the General Session, in order to give the best opportunity for the discussion of standards and resolutions (on subjects such as AMR and wildlife) after comments have been submitted by delegates.

Dr Caya gave explanations on the calendar of events before and during the general session, including other OIE events linked to the General session. All documents useful for delegates will be available online, on a specific. “general session” website. Participants were reminded that even when online, the General Session is an institutional meeting with general rules for participation and quora in force.

Following this, Dr Balbo gave a short presentation on the successful Animal Welfare Platform project for the European region, with strong support by Members in the area, and a reminder for even more countries to take an active part, contributing to roles and activities of the Steering Group which is leading this platform on behalf of 53 Members.

Active participation of OIE Members of the European region was a very positive sign in the preparation period for the coming 88^th General Session.

Presentations:

1. New format of the 88th General Session, the last updates from the OIE Council, other OIE events to be organized prior to the General Session (Dr F. Caya)
2. Update on Regional Platform on Animal Welfare in Europe (Dr R. Balbo)