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Linking Epidemiology and Laboratory Research on Transboundary Animal Diseases and Zoonoses in EU and China

Policy

The main objective of WP5 was to support international policy dialogue in infectious diseases of animal and zoonoses between the EU and China.

This work package aimed to:

1) Provide support data to EU-China policy dialogue in infectious diseases of animal and zoonoses;

2) Enhance the policy framework for collaboration between the EU and China through the organisation of bi-regional consultations events.

Description of work and role of partners

The first task involved the provision of support to the official policy dialogues on animal diseases and food security between the EU and China.  This allowed for a solid base for networking, discussion of common interests and preparation of joint activities providing logistic support and the maintenance of networks around targeted stakeholders. Further work involved the mapping of ongoing bilateral dialogues to ensure policy coherence and provision of support data to EU-China policy dialogues in animal diseases, through a summary report. Another area examined was the linking of existing funding schemes and the indication of possible synergies between initiatives focusing on China, including activities carried out on one side by the European research programmes (EU Framework Programmes and EU Member States’ national programmes including those involving international partners) and, on the other, by related research programmes coordinated by China national institutions, e.g. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). Possibility of twinning large sets of research projects/consortia from the counterparts’ (i.e. Chinese) programmes was also analysed.

The second task related to the organisation of policy dialogue consultation meetings among the EU-China policy makers on animal health and food security. Two face-to-face and three online bi-regional consultation events were organised, targeting policy-makers, other high level officials, representatives of S&T and development (with a focus on animal health and food security) programme owners, as well as of innovation agencies and other relevant S&T and innovation actors from China and Europe (e.g. researchers and industry representatives). The events provided a structured platform for high-level policy dialogues and allowed for the discussion of mechanisms supporting the commercialization of research on animal health and food security in the two regions. 

The main government agencies:

  • Ministry of Health (MoH), in charge of formulating and implementing health policies, including but not limited to food security and animal diseases;
  • Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), in charge of formulating and implementing agriculture policies, including but not limited to management and prevention of animal epidemic diseases, the development of proposal of national programmes on veterinary drugs;
  • Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), in charge of formulating and implementing S&T policies, including but not limited to international cooperation on S&T on zoonoses. Within MoST, the Torch High Technology Industry Development Center has been commissioned to be a leading player in promoting the innovation environment building and high-tech industrialisation in China. Torch is in charge to better carry out the National Plan for Medium to Long-term S&T Development, with the general purpose of reinforcing the overall environment for technology innovation and promoting high-tech industrialisation by cooperating with other pertinent authorities at central and local levels (http://www.ctp.gov.cn/ctp-eng/index.htm).