The Third South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Regional Epidemiology Networking Meeting was held in Kathmandu, Nepal from 2-3 February 2016. 35 representatives from seven SAARC countries and international agencies (including FAO RAP, Bangladesh and China, Asian Development Bank [ADB], etc.) participated in the meeting. Mr Tang Hao from FAO China ECTAD Office was invited to attend the meeting and to deliver a presentation.

On behalf of FAO China ECTAD, Mr Tang Hao shared China's practices on engaging decision makers in veterinary epidemiology, especially the Veterinary Epidemiology trainings for Executives (FETPV-E) initiative. Mr Tang explained what FETPV-E is and rationale of the initiative. He also shared how FETPV-E workshops worked for senior veterinary officials in China, i.e. align with government strategy and priorities, give short and sharp talks with practical examples and use participatory approaches. In addition, the impacts of the FETPV-E to veterinary epidemiology development in China were demonstrated to participants through several examples. The participants showed great interest to China’s practice, and the FETPV-E initiative was added as one of the meeting recommendations by SAARC member countries.