ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: The federal food ministry and the European Union (EU) have approved the annual work plan for the implementation of a joint Rs124 million project for strengthening livestock services.

The project is aimed at cleaning the country of trans-boundary animal diseases, including the foot and mouth disease and peste des petits ruminants (PPR).

The project helped Pakistan to be declared Rinderpest-free by the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) recently.

An official source said on Tuesday that measures would be taken till June 2008 to control other animal diseases under the plan.

A steering committee had also approved the project’s human resource development policy, the source said.

The six-year countrywide project will be completed by 2009.

Pakistan’s livestock and dairy exports have been banned by the European Union states because of prevalence of foot and mouth disease and PPR.

According to officials, the reservoir of V-type foot and mouth disease is generally considered to be in South Asia, particularly Pakistan and India. Both the countries have very high bovine and buffalo population densities.

The virus has often been associated with epidemic spread out of these reservoir animal populations into west Asia as far as Turkey, and even to Greece in 2000.

The disease has now also seen eastwards spread to involve dispersed, possibly widespread outbreaks on Chinese mainland.

PPR has recently been identified in west and south India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.