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An assessment team under the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)’s Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) programme and its Sustainable Laboratories initiative has arrived in Armenia at the invitation of the Food Safety Inspectorate, the inspectorate said in a statement.
According to the statement, a team of experts led by Dr. André de Oliveira Mendonça will, over the next 10 days, assess the capacities of Armenia’s veterinary services and the laboratories of the Republican Centre for Veterinary, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Laboratory Services, a state non-commercial organization operating under the Food Safety Inspectorate. Welcoming the assessment team, Head of the Food Safety Inspectorate Tigran Petrosyan stressed the initiative’s particular importance for the modernization of Armenia’s veterinary system and its alignment with international standards.
“I am confident that it will contribute to strengthening veterinary services, aligning laboratories with international standards, and ensuring more effective protection of animal and public health,” Petrosyan said.
Dr. André de Oliveira Mendonça welcomed the Armenian side’s constructive approach and expressed hope that the new methodology, which is being applied by the team for the first time, would enable an accurate assessment of laboratory capacities. He said it would also contribute to improving veterinary and laboratory services, quality management systems, the development of a long-term strategy, and the professional capacity of personnel in Armenia.
The Sustainable Laboratories initiative under the Performance of Veterinary Services programme is designed to assess laboratory capacities, ensure the sustainable operation of laboratories, and support the development of high-quality diagnostic systems as an essential component of animal disease detection and control.