France and Italy create the "Technical Contact Group on African Swine Fever"

Marc Fesneau, French Minister of Agriculture and Food Safety, and Francesco Lollobrigida, Italian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Safety, have agreed to increase cooperation between the two countries in order to prevent the spread of African swine fever from infected areas.

The two ministers announced the creation of a technical contact group that will bring together regional and national animal health, wildlife, and hunting experts from the two countries.

This technical contact group will have the objective of coordinating strategies to prevent the spread of the disease. Its main tasks will be:

• organize the exchange of information between the different regional and national levels,
• share experiences on operational management methods
• work on common strategies, in particular on the management of wild boar populations and wildlife surveillance
• promote the identification of joint scientific projects
• achieve operational cooperation for border areas