The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Environment stressed today in Lagoa the work carried out in the Azores for the benefit of animal health, pointing out that the "excellent results" achieved also benefit public health, "boost consumer confidence and promote the quality of regional products."

"The Regional Office of the Portuguese Veterinary Association can be proud of the work that all parties involved have done in order to make the Azores one of the European regions with fewer health problems," said Luís Neto Viveiros at the opening session of the Forum on Veterinary Medicine.

"We are particularly pleased to see that the latest report issued by the European Union on Cattle and Swine Diseases continues to recognise the Azores as officially free from Bovine Brucellosis on six islands," Regional Secretary said, adding that this year we will "not have animals under isolation" on the island of São Miguel.

In this context, he considered that the Azores are following "a safe path towards the fulfilment of a commitment we made to eradicate bovine brucellosis in the Region during this legislative period."

According to the Regional Secretary for Agriculture, "the Azores, which are part of a Member State with a negligible Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) risk status, were the region that mostly contributed to this classification, based on the data released."

On the other hand, Luís Neto Viveiros announced that the Regional Veterinary Services are starting a "far-reaching" Bovine Tuberculosis screening programme with the support of agricultural associations. Should the programme achieve the expected results, it might even be a bigger success or, at least, reach the same level as that achieved for Brucellosis, enzootic bovine Leucosis, BSE and Brucellosis Small Ruminants in the entire Region."

"With regard to animal health, we can be proud of the work that was carried out by veterinarians in the definition and support of health policies and the valuable contribution provided by Azorean farmers," stressed the government official.

The Regional Secretary stressed that "this data is excellent news for Azorean agriculture at a time when sanitary barriers are increasingly becoming a serious obstacle to the movement of animals and marketing of derivative products" and also because "exports are essential to overcome new challenges, especially those of the milk sector."

Luís Neto Viveiros stressed that the Regional Government has increased financial allocations for animal health improvement by 22% and defended that "all professionals, who work either in the public sphere or in the private sphere, should present high standards quality in terms of products and services." In this regard, the government official praised the initiative of the Regional Office of the Portuguese Veterinary Association to promote this forum.

"We have joined this initiative and consider it to be of utmost importance because we believe that veterinarians play a fundamental role in safeguarding animal health and well-being, which also contributes to the maintenance of public health and the strength our economy," said the Regional Government.