Sergei Dankvert said similar inspections would be held in the Astrakhan region, in Kalmykia, and in the Krasnodar region (Russia's southern regions). "We proposed that the OIE organize such inspections abroad," he added.
Bernard Vallat, the president of the OIE, said his agency formulates models for solutions to global problems, particularly, the expansion of bird flu. He said the OIE hopes that all countries would have systems for the early detection of bird flu and for a quick response to outbreaks of the disease.
Yevgeny Nepoklonov, the chief veterinarian of Russia, said, "One should not allege that we have an epidemic of the bird flu in Russia. We have immediately detected the outbreaks of bird flu brought by migrating birds," he said, adding that these birds came from Southeast Asia.
At a meeting of heads of European Union veterinary services on September 8 in Edinburgh, Russian experts presented a diagnostic system that proved to be effective, he said.
