Benefits Azerbaijan to get after receiving free of animal diseases zone announced

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has announced the benefits Azerbaijan will receive after receiving free of an animal diseases zone status.

Susanne Munstermann, expert at the FAO Headquarters, says Azerbaijan will gain significant advantages as an exporter and transit country after receiving the status of a zone free of animal diseases, Report informs.

In line with the rules of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), in order to ensure the circulation of live animals and animal products through the international trade network, Azerbaijan must have the status of a zone free of a number of animal diseases, she said.

"One of these diseases is ovine rinderpest. Obtaining free of the disease status will eliminate obstacles to the export of small animals and their products, as well as the transit of live animals through the territory of our country, and will create new opportunities for international cooperation."

Over recent years, epizootiological and serological monitoring, conducted by specialists of the Azerbaijani Food Safety Agency throughout the country, has not revealed any clinical manifestations and causative agents of the disease. This indicates that epizootic stability is maintained.

The agency has further expanded cooperation with various international organizations to control the epizootic situation in the country and study the spread of the disease. Thus, within the framework of the FAO’s "National capacity building for disease surveillance project, including veterinary diagnosis", measures are being taken to establish an active control system for ovine rinderpest and to implement a disease exemption plan.

A set of documents on special anti-epizootic measures taken to obtain the status of a free zone from ovine rinderpest should be compiled and submitted to the OIE in the third quarter of 2022.

Once the work is done and the country report of the set of documents is adopted, Azerbaijan will be granted a status of a zone free of the ovine rinderpest.

Consequently, Azerbaijan will be the first country in the region to gain significant advantages as an exporter and transit country.