Asia-Pacific Bird Flu Summit In Australia

MELBOURNE, Oct 8 (Bernama) -- Australia will host a regional summit on bird flu later this month to examine whether Asia-Pacific countries can cope with an outbreak of the deadly virus.
Disaster management coordinators from 21 countries will meet in Brisbane for two days from Oct 31 to discuss preparations for a potential avian influenza pandemic in the region.
It will be the first time experts from every Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economy will be brought together.
Observers from the Pacific Island Forum, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have also been invited.
"The meeting of pandemic and disaster experts from the Asia-Pacific region will discuss efforts to improve regional coordination of preparedness and response," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in a statement.
"It highlights Australia's leadership role in providing a strategic and coordinated response approach to the threat posed by avian influenza," he said.
The meeting comes a fortnight before the annual meeting of APEC leaders in South Korea in mid-November where the bird flu threat is expected to dominate talks.
Downer said the regional summit's aim was to ensure a swift and coordinated regional response to contain any outbreak of avian influenza.
The summit, among others, is aimed at improving communication between key personnel, sharing information on individual countries' action plans and identifying gaps in preparedness.
Australia has provided almost A$160 million to combat bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Australia and the region since 2003.
Health and quarantine experts from the region will also attend the Brisbane summit as will officials of the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.