Cyprus, Greece to create joint foot and mouth working group

A joint working group to combat the ongoing outbreak of foot and mouth disease is to be created by the governments of Cyprus and Greece, it was announced on Tuesday.

The group’s creation was announced by the permanent secretaries of Cyprus’ agriculture ministry and Greece’s food ministry, Andreas Gregoriou and Spyros Protopsaltis.

Gregoriou explained that the group will be chaired by “yours truly” and Protopsaltis, and that they will both work alongside officials from government departments from both countries, “so that there is daily communication for the coordination [and] exchange of good practices and on issues of implementation of biosecurity measures”.

Additionally, he said, the group will deal with “issues of compensation for the loss of livestock, income and feed”.

He added that during a meeting between the pair and their respective ministers, Maria Panayiotou and Margaritis Schinas, earlier in the day, “the implementation of measures to reduce the spread of the virus was evaluated, both in Cyprus, where there has been a problem for months, and in Lesvos where it appeared about a month and a half ago”.

“We are on the same page, and the message is that we must all work together, from government services to livestock farmers, who must understand the seriousness of the risk and implement measures in their units to protect livestock,” he said,

Protopsaltis, meanwhile, said that “Greece and Cyprus are currently facing a common, real threat to livestock farming – some would ay an existential threat – as foot and mouth disease is a highly contagious disease”.

Since the disease was first detected on the Aegean island of Lesvos in March, he said, “we have been waging a very big battle to limit its spread and eradicate it”.

He added that during the day’s meeting, Cypriot and Greek representatives had “discussed the need for closer cooperation, so as to exchange information, know-how, and best practices, and be more effective”, before adding that he believes the cooperation between the two countries will “yield results”.

Asked whether changes should be made to European Union regulations on the matter, which dictate that if one animal on a farm is found to have the disease, all animals on that farm must be culled, he said that Greece has in recent years also been required to implement the same regulation for an outbreak of sheep and goat pox.

“The faster and more strictly you act at the beginning, the greater the chances of overcoming the difficult situation, while a significant reduction in sheep and goat pox cases is already being recorded as a result of the measures,” he said.