A biosecurity training mission to Perth by veterinary officers from Thailand and Iraq is a positive sign for further education trade opportunities for Murdoch University and the Department of Agriculture.
A biosecurity training mission to Perth by veterinary officers from Thailand and Iraq is a positive sign for further education trade opportunities for Murdoch University and the Department of Agriculture.
Made possible by a $150,000 AusAid grant, a study group of 10 officers in Thailand’s plant and animal quarantine departments to Murdoch this week is aimed at improving the country’s ability to deal with biosecurity issues, including avian influenza and foot and mouth disease.
A similar four-week study mission from Iraq, which concluded last week, sought to develop a standard set of procedures in the war-ravaged nation as it reopens its economy to the world’s agricultural trade.
Australia is seen as a world leader in the provision of quarantine services, with one of the best international records when it comes to cross-border disease control.
According to Murdoch’s head of the Department of Veterinary and Clinical Sciences, Ian Robertson, this presents an enormous trade opportunity for Western Australia’s agricultural institutions in the current climate of international bio-security threats.
“There is a huge need for this kind of training in South-East Asia, and we hope this is just the start of it,” Mr Robertson told WA Business News.
Close links between Murdoch and the Department of Agriculture exist with John Edwards, the recently appointed dean of the university’s School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, a former chief veterinary officer at the Department of Agriculture.
Mr Edwards will have a significant role in the Thai training project, teaching various aspects of the course.
Member of the Thai study mission, Wacharapol Chotiyaputta, a veterinary officer in Thailand’s Bureau of Livestock Development, said the current biosecurity atmosphere in Thailand had been hit hard by recent outbreaks of avian flu, but that the bureau had achieved a significant amount since the virus had emerged.
He said quarantine issues surrounding foot and mouth disease were of major importance to the country, as a recent spike in demand for imported cattle in the country had increased the risk of the disease entering Thailand.
Mr Robertson said future quarantine study missions from developing countries in the region, including Vietnam, Myanmar and to a lesser extent Malaysia, were all possible. He said it was also conceivable that something similar could be organised for quarantine experts in India.
Agriculture Minister Kim Chance, who addressed the study group at a formal welcoming dinner this week, said the training mission came at an opportune time, with cooperation on biosecurity issues of great importance.
“The study tour program will no doubt show the similarities between WA and Thailand, but will also show the potential that can be gained by working together to implement international best practice to combat biosecurity threats to plants and diseases in our region,” he said.
The Iraqi study mission was sponsored by the international Food and Agriculture Organisation.
