Medvedev calls for more effective fight against African swine fever
TAMBOV. April 4 (Interfax) - The spread of African swine fever is a matter of concern and measures to combat its spread must be taken, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
"There are of course plenty of problems for livestock farming. There are problems that we must all combat jointly. African swine fever, other especially dangerous diseases remain very serious threats for the sector," Medvedev said at a meeting with the heads of Russian livestock farming enterprises.
"Obviously, the regions need to raise the effectiveness of work to prevent outbreaks and spread of such diseases," he said.
"The fact that African swine fever has in essence spread beyond the Urals - outbreaks have already appeared in Siberia - this is a real problem," Medvedev said.
"The measures that need to be taken must be considered and a meeting needs to be held with the leaders of the regions and the people responsible for all these measures in Western and Eastern Siberia," he said.
Medvedev instructed Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich to think about the level at which this meeting should be organized, so that "the colleagues can appreciate their responsibility." Unlike in Central Russia, where this problem has been around a long time and where people have more or less learned how to combat it, for the Siberian regions "this is an entirely new story. This needs to be engaged with."