Lausanne (SUI), February 17, 2013 – The FEI and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) have initiated a three-year plan in response to growing demand from countries for support to improve the cross-border movement of high-level competition horses, participation in equestrian competitions today reaching a record level.
Various proposals have been made as part of this plan, including the full-time secondment of an experienced veterinarian to OIE Headquarters in Paris, who will work in direct collaboration with high-ranking officials.
The FEI veterinarian will collaborate with the OIE to define a subpopulation presenting a reduced health risk because it is composed of competition horses with a particularly high level of health and performance. These will be integrated into biosecurity systems created in countries to protect animal and human populations against the risk of disease spread.
In addition, the expert will contribute to fostering veterinary training programs organized within the framework of the OIE PVS Pathway, a global program for the sustainable development of national veterinary services worldwide.
The FEI and the OIE will also develop communication tools for governments on the social and economic contribution of equestrian sports with the aim of modernizing import and export procedures in order to enable the health security of horse movements. competition while also guaranteeing their well-being.
This Plan marks a turning point in the working relationship between the FEI and the OIE, which dates back ten years, and will come into force as the busiest equestrian events calendar in the history of the sport looms. sport. In the past year alone, more than 3.000 FEI-organized equestrian events were recorded around the world, representing a growth of 27% since 2008.
“Over the past ten years, the OIE has worked in close partnership with the FEI to identify the key elements necessary to put in place more convenient procedures than those required by national Veterinary Services for international travel without risk of competition horses and the application of biosecurity measures at all venues where competitions take place,” said Dr Bernard Vallat, Director General of the OIE.
“The FEI will now put its resources to work in a public-private partnership with the OIE, where these significant resources will help correct existing problems in the movement of healthy competition horses.
In 2002, the FEI signed a formal Agreement with the OIE, similar to those signed by the OIE with the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, the International Veterinary Association and the Federation Animal Health International.
The FEI and OIE have since jointly organized events on the international movement of competition horses, attended by more than 70 government representatives as well as veterinary and competition horse experts from 25 countries.
“We are now entering another very exciting phase of our long-term relationship with the OIE,” explained Her Royal Highness Princess Haya, President of the FEI who, last September, was appointed as the first Goodwill Ambassador. desire of the OIE with the mandate to contribute to raising awareness of the missions and activities of the Organization on a global scale.
She added that “The FEI intends to consolidate the achievements of this ten-year partnership with the OIE and to bring its expertise in the shared objective of promoting and sustainably supporting the international development of equestrian sports and all the values that 'they represent.
“Together we will foster greater government awareness of the issue of competitive horses and establish a common approach to biosecurity that will enable international equestrian sports to flourish in the future. »
