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EU pledge millions for bird flu
13/01/2006 14:05 - (SA)
Brussels - The European Commission will offer €80m at a pledging conference on bird flu in Beijing next week, a senior official said on Friday.
The sum will include €35m earmarked for Asian countries, said the European Union's executive arm, saying it is essential to fight avian influenza at its source.
"A global threat needs a global response. That is why it is important to mobilise international co-operation," said EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
"Never before has an animal disease posed a global threat of such a dimension and spread at such a pace," she added.
Over 80 countries and 20 international organisations are set to gather for the Beijing conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, co-hosted by the European Union, China and the World Bank.
The European Commission aid pledge is on top of separate contributions to be made by individual members of the 25-nation bloc.
Concern is growing in Europe over the threat of the disease, in particular following an outbreak in neighbouring Turkey which has already killed three people.
Bird flu has already killed nearly 80 people in Southeast Asia and China since 2003.
"It is now ever closer to Europe's doorstep," said Ferrero-Waldner.
"Our philosophy is to address the problem at the source, and to focus on helping third countries implement their own national strategies for tackling the disease," she said.
"It is better to spend now on controlling avian influenza at the source and helping to prevent a new human influenza pandemic than to have to spend much more in a catastrophic event of a human pandemic.
- AFP
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