YEREVAN. – The Eurasian Union will help increase the veterinary capacities of Armenia.

Head of the Veterinary Inspectorate of the State Service for Food Safety of Armenia, Hovhannes Mkrtchyan, said the abovementioned at a press conference on Saturday.

As per Mkrtchyan, this assistance includes renovation of veterinary buildings, laboratory refurbishment, and training of specialists.

Some of the latest respective equipment has already been received.

“Had the equipment already functioned in full, we [i.e. Armenia] would have recorded earlier that the foot-and-mouth [disease] recorded in Armenia is a new type,” he noted. “In that case, we would have ordered a new vaccine earlier.”

Mkrtchyan stated this commenting on Russia’s banning the imports of certain products of animal origin from Armenia, and due to the foot-and-mouth disease that was detected in Armenia.

The AG-VII type of the foot-and-mouth disease in Armenia, and which is new for the region, was recorded in December 2015, in an Armavir Province village bordering Turkey.

The results of the respective testing, which was conducted in a laboratory abroad, have come in.

“If we could have diagnosed it ourselves, would not have had to wait for an answer, and we would have started the fight against the virus earlier,” Hovhannes Mkrtchyan added.

The source of this disease in Armenia has been destroyed. 

Next week, a working group from the Rosselkhoznadzor (Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of the Russian Federation) will arrive in Armenia to get familiarized with the respective actions taken by the Armenian side.

If the foot-and-mouth disease-related situation in Armenia is deemed safe, the aforesaid ban will be lifted.