Thursday, January 08, 2009

Cambodia, Vietnam ink MoU to inspect animal cargoes across border

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian and Vietnamese government officials have signed a memorandum of understanding to inspect all animal cargoes crossing the border, said English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post on Thursday.

The MoU stipulated that the construction of 11 inspection facilities along the border to separate the flow of animal cargoes and humans, in order to contain spread of avian influenza and its contraction from animal to human.

"The agreement will help curb the disease from spreading form animal to animal and from animals to human," said Kao Phal, Director of the Animal Health and Production Department of the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries.

A 19-year-old Cambodian man was infected with the H5N1 virus in December, which is the only confirmed infection in the country last year, but non-fatal, not like the 7 prior cases diagnosed in Cambodia.

Cambodia exports a large part of its rural consuming goods, especially livestock, from Vietnam, one of the countries that were hit most severely by the epidemic in the past years.

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