R 081107Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW
TO AMEMBASSY PARIS 
AMEMBASSY VIENNA 
AMEMBASSY KYIV 
SECSTATE WASHDC 7450
DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS WARSAW 001386 
 
 
USDA FAS FOR OTP/FOSTER, BORISS, COVEY OCRA/DSALMON; OSTA/MACKE, 
APHIS FOR IS/JMITCHELL, FSIS FOR OIA/SWHITE 
BRUSSELS PASS AG MINISTER COUNSELOR, AGATT STANGE, APHIS/FERNANDEZ; 
VIENNA PASS APHIS/TANAKA 
PARIS PASS AG COUNSELOR; KIEV PASS AG COUNSELOR 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD PL
SUBJECT: USDA TRAINS VETS IN PULAWY WITH EMERGING MARKETS FUNDS 
 
REF:  Warsaw 1580 
 
¶1. SUMMARY:  USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service provided 
training to 22 veterinarians and scientists of the Ukrainian 
Veterinary Service at Poland's Pulawy National Institute for 
Veterinary Science December 1-5, 2008.  Poland's vets invited USDA 
to take part in an EU-sponsored event already planned, showing their 
openness to cooperate.  Poland is an excellent channel for access to 
Ukraine and Belarus and will have EU funds to spend on veterinary 
cooperation on EU expansion.  Poland's openness and support for 
sound science in animal disease control reduces risks to the economy 
and human health in the region. 
 
¶2. The newly dedicated Pulawy Institute, see reftel, is Europe's 
most advanced veterinary laboratory and is rapidly becoming a 
regional resource as a reference laboratory and training center for 
other EU member states and in Central and Eastern Europe.  Its 
training efforts help to reduce potential threats on the EU's 
eastern borders by improving the level of readiness of Ukraine's and 
other countries' veterinary services.  The U.S. Department of 
Agriculture is a partner with Poland on these issues and this visit 
was supported by a USDA Emerging Markets Program grant of $18,000. 
That small grant protects roughly $150 million in U.S. agricultural 
exports. End Summary. 
 
--------------------- 
TRAINING FOR EASTERN 
EUROPE VETERINARIANS 
--------------------- 
 
¶3. Jay K. Mitchell, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sanitary 
and Phytosanitary (SPS) Director for Europe at the Animal and Plant 
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) was hosted at the Pulawy Institute 
by Dr. Tadeusz Wijaska, Director General of the Pulawy Veterinarian 
Institute (PIVET) and Dr. Jan Zmudzinski, Deputy Director for 
Research at PIVET.  At the training organized by PIVET, Director 
Mitchell gave two presentations: an overview of APHIS and APHIS's 
role in animal health and food safety.  Mitchell emphasized the role 
of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) issues in light of Ukraine's 
recent WTO membership.  He gave a history of SPS agreements within 
the WTO and stressed the importance of Ukrainian adherence to these 
WTO SPS agreements.  The Ukrainian participants of the training 
consisted of scientists from the National Scientific Center, 
Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine in 
Kharkov, Ukraine and the Veterinary Control Institute in Lviv, 
Ukraine.  Embassy Warsaw encourages USDA's Cochran Program or other 
suitable program as excellent tool to train and expose these 
Ukrainian veterinarians and scientists to the structure of the U.S. 
veterinary service and procedures used to eradicate or combat animal 
diseases. The Pulawy Veterinary Institute is an ideal venue to 
develop quick diagnostic action and response in the case of 
animal-borne pathogens and diseases that are a global economic 
threat to agriculture and human health. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
FRENCH DELEGATION VISITS PULAWY VETERINARY INSTITUTE 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  At the same time Director Mitchell was in Pulawy, the Institute 
also hosted a French delegation consisting of Mr. Patrick Bonjour, 
current General Veterinary Inspector and former Deputy Chief 
Veterinary Officer in France in the mid-1990s, and Mr. Xavier 
Pacholek, Veterinary Attach at the French Embassy in Warsaw.  The 
delegation visited PIVET to discuss future cooperation between the 
French Veterinary Service and the Polish Veterinary Authorities to 
prepare a program of joint training for the Ukrainian Veterinary 
Service.  They will present a bid to the European Commission to fund 
this project in 2009.  The estimated cost of the joint training is 
over one million euro.  If accepted, and the program is successful, 
it could be extended and the budget enlarged to as much as eight 
million euro.  According to the Polish Veterinary Service, other 
bids for the same program could be proposed by the Netherlands 
jointly with Estonia, and Italy with Lithuania.  Lithuania's 
Veterinary Service was supposed to meet French and Polish veterinary 
authorities in Pulawy, but the delegation did not come. 
 
---------------------------- 
NEW CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5.  While visiting Poland, Mitchell called on its Chief Veterinary 
Officer, Dr. Janusz Zwiazek and Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr. 
Krzysztof Jazdzewski, inviting them to the United States for more 
talks and training.  At both meetings the Polish Veterinary Service 
officials emphasized the importance of cooperation with the U.S. 
Veterinary Service in the areas of food safety and animal health. 
The two sides discussed how important it is for USDA to be 
presenting its side of the animal health issue, and for them to not 
just hear EU views.  Polish Veterinary officials hope to continue 
cooperation with the U.S. Veterinary Service in promoting 
international veterinary standards in Ukraine and other countries in 
Central and Eastern Europe. 
 
¶6.  Poland is factoring in Europe's high cost food safety system and 
is seeing the EC's heavy regulation diminish its competitiveness for 
no scientific reasons.  This has made the Poles more willing to 
argue for sound science in EU fora.  U.S. involvement in Central and 
Eastern European veterinary projects will ensure that U.S. standards 
and approaches of animal disease control will be presented to 
contrast pressure from EU Member States to adopt the EU's procedures 
in countries like the Ukraine and Belarus.  This approach can pay 
dividends later.  Poland, for example, defied EU regulations on its 
accession in 2004 and left in place regulations that allowed U.S. 
market access for its meat and animal products exports to Poland a 
full twelve months after required to stop.  As well, since then, 
when faced with technical requests and no political pressure, 
Poland's Veterinary Service still supports U.S. market access for 
dairy, livestock genetics, and transshipments of beef and poultry 
across the EU, worth millions in trade to the United States. 
 
¶7.  Comment.  Poland, as the largest country in the region with the 
most developed veterinary service is a natural leader in creating a 
platform for the exchange of information regarding animal health. 
Poland has one of the finest vet services in the EU, if not the 
globe. End Comment. 
 
ASHE