12 July 1996
The Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas or their representatives, gathered during the International Conference on the Perspectives of Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the Next Millennium and its Impact of Food Security and Trade: Focus on the Americas, held in Brasilia, Brazil, jointly organized by the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO), the International Office of Epizootics (OIE) and the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO).
Expressing their thanks to the President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, for the ample approach on the Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) issue, with which he successfully opened the meeting, and translated the commitment of his Government towards the eradication of the disease from the Americas;
Considering the importance of the Ministerial decision, adopted during the V International Meeting at Ministerial Level on Animal Health, RIMSA V, held in Washington in 1987, which approved the elaboration of a Hemispheric Plan for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease, and also requested PAHO to create a Hemispheric Committee for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease, with a mandate to coordinate and support the objectives and goals of the said Plan;
Acknowledging the invaluable support of the international organizations to the Hemispheric Plan, and the pivotal role played by the Panamerican Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA/PAHO);
Taking note of the importance of the private sector and other “social actors” of the livestock productive chain in the FMD eradication plans, at local, national, subregional and regional levels;
Satisfied with the historical feat, represented by the elimination of FMD from the Southern Cone of the Continent, central areas of Brazil and from the northwestern part of Colombia, which represents more than half of the livestock population of South America, as a result of the implementation of the Hemispheric Plan and of their subregional plans which integrate resources and sanitary actions between neighbouring countries;
Willing that, in the actual world economic scenario oriented towards a global economic approach, free trade and formation of regional integrating blocks, the eradication of FMD will lead to a full participation of the countries of the region in a new international economic order, and that it also allows access to new markets and better prices for their products of livestock origin, based on the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organization (WTO);
Recognising the need of strengthening the decision of eradicating FMD from the Americas by 2009;
DECIDE:
Reiterate the commitment with the eradication of FMD from the Americas in a joint work with the private sector, so as to meet the deadlines of the Hemispheric Plan and to strengthen the alternative model of veterinary programme delivery, as to promote a new sanitary behaviour of the society due to its role of surveyor of the joint sanitary actions;
Confer special attention to the small livestock producers, in order to improve their productive capacity, their income and their social and economic conditions, aiming to create a sanitary/social space of great significance in the Continent;
Acknowledge that as the eradication of FMD in the Americas progresses, further coordinated actions will be needed, so as to prevent the introduction and/or re-introduction of this or other diseases of social and economic impact in the Americas;
Reaffirm the commitment with the role of PANAFTOSA/PAHO, which will maintain its vanguard position in this preventive phase, as well as will assume new responsibilities with respect to other diseases or conditions that affect the livestock industry in the Continent;
Further recognise the existence of some endemic areas in the Continent, mainly in the Andean Area, requiring the mobilisation of resources from the countries themselves, from international organizations, from donor third countries and intercountry cooperation, aiming to accelerate the eradication of FMD from the Americas;
Request FAO, OIE and PAHO to develop technical orientations towards the progress of FMD global eradication as well as the prevention of other important animal diseases in the world;
Also request the Governments of all infected countries to work together with the international animal health agencies in evaluating the applicability of the Hemispheric Plan's strategies, as applied in the Southern Cone area, to their FMD sanitary situations, in order to reach its global eradication, bearing in mind its negative impact on food security, public health and international trade;
Ask FAO to take to the attention of the World Food Summit, the negative impact that FMD, the transboundary diseases and other related problems have on food security and sustainable rural development;
Urge the importing countries to abide by the International Agreements issued by WTO, as well as the regulations for their implementation stated in the Zoosanitary Code of OIE in order to promptly eliminate non-tariff barriers to the international trade;
Stress the importance of FMD combat in the Americas as a way of promoting regional integration;
Use the well succeeded model of FMD combat in the Americas in future Hemispheric Plans for the eradication of other diseases of social and economic importance, with the purpose of promoting food security.
The document was signed by the following Ministers of Agriculture or their representatives:
