Bernard Vallat, Director General of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) extolled Tuesday China's efforts in animal disease control and prevention and called for more cooperation with China in the field.

Vallat told a seminar in Beijing that China, which won full OIE membership last May, has played an important role in regional and global major animal diseases control and prevention as well as related international communication and cooperation.

The development of globalization and world climate change have prompt every country to face the threat of increasingly more transnational animal diseases, he noted.

The official also urged China to make more efforts in veterinary studies and adjust to international animal health standards to improve animal disease control and ensure public health.

Yin Chengjie, Vice Agriculture Minister, said the country is ready to work under the OIE framework in animal disease control and prevention and would like to enhance the cooperation in animal disease standards setting and disease control.

China has provided 23 bird flu strains to the World Health Organization (WTO) and published all these gene sequences, Yin added.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2008)