From May 18 to 22, the 93rd General Session of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) was grandly held in Paris, France. The "One Health" concept emphasizes the interdependence and integrated synergy of human, animal, and ecological health. Anchored by the theme "Investing in Animal Health, Safeguarding Our Common Future," this year's assembly highlighted the foundational and strategic value of animal health in ensuring food security, stabilizing economic development, and fortifying the global public health defense network. During the assembly, Yang Zhiming, Secretary-General of IAFPH, held a special meeting in Paris with the official delegation of the Inter-State School of Veterinary Sciences and Medicine of Dakar (EISMV), Senegal. Revolving around the "One Health" concept, the two sides practically advanced multilateral, pragmatic cooperation across trilateral China-France-Africa veterinary education, scientific research innovation, and the translation of veterinary medicine industrial achievements.
The 93rd General Session of the World Organisation for Animal Health
This meeting in Paris marks an iterative upgrade of the friendly cooperation between the two sides. A solid foundation for collaboration had already been established through mutual visits via the Paris International Agricultural Show (Salon International de l'Agriculture) and Henan Agricultural University. This matchmaking session further deepened mutual trust and consensus, signaling that the cooperation between the two sides has officially evolved from short-term visits and exchanges into a new phase of normalized, institutionalized, and deep-level industry-academia-research collaborative development.
Delegations from Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and France Visit Henan Agricultural University for Exchanges
The delegation from Henan Agricultural University gathered at the Paris exhibition alongside presidents, directors, and academicians from African universities—including those from Senegal, Morocco, and Cabo Verde—to participate in an academic symposium hosted by IAFPH and engage in in-depth exchanges.
During the talks, Yang Zhiming, Secretary-General of IAFPH, engaged in a specialized business matchmaking session with Dr. Assiongbon Teko-Agbo, an expert in veterinary medicine quality control and regulation from EISMV. Dr. Teko-Agbo systematically introduced the veterinary drug registration standards, review guidelines, and market access regulations across the eight member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). Both sides agreed that the West African veterinary medicine market holds immense potential, and compliant access is the critical prerequisite for industrial implementation. Moving forward, both parties will fully leverage IAFPH's research platform, international network, and multilingual collaboration advantages to precisely facilitate the compliant entry of high-quality Chinese veterinary drugs into the West African market, smoothing the channels for two-way cooperation in the agricultural, animal husbandry, and pharmaceutical industries between China and Africa.
On-site at the 93rd General Session of WOAH
Subsequently, Yang Zhiming, Secretary-General of IAFPH, held a high-level meeting with Professor Yalacé Yamba Kaboret, Director of EISMV. Director Kaboret highly recognized the comprehensive strength of Chinese universities in agricultural research, discipline construction, traditional medicine R&D, and the translation of industry-academia-research achievements. He expressed the desire to drive a comprehensive upgrade of bilateral cooperation, expanding routine friendly exchanges into substantive collaborative projects, such as joint research initiatives, mutual visits of researchers, faculty and student exchange programs, joint laboratory development, and the commercialization of industrial achievements. Leveraging the significant complementary advantages of both sides in fields such as animal disease prevention and control, veterinary drug development, animal nutrition, and food safety, they aim to jointly promote deep, practical, and effective cooperation in veterinary education and scientific research across China, France, and Africa.
During the session break
On behalf of EISMV and leveraging the IAFPH international cooperation platform, Director Kaboret extended an official invitation to the delegation of Henan Agricultural University for a return visit and field research. Concurrently, the institution expressed its desire to join hands with Henan University of Chinese Medicine to jointly conduct interdisciplinary research, focusing on the exploitation and utilization of medicinal plant resources, traditional medicine empowering animal health, and the modernization and innovation of traditional techniques. The two sides conducted in-depth exchanges and consultations on international science and technology project applications, academic synergy among universities in French-speaking regions, and the trilateral China-France-Africa collaborative innovation model, reaching multiple consensuses on cooperation.
Moving forward, IAFPH will continue to leverage the JRU international joint research platform to align deeply with the spirit of the WOAH General Session and the core concept of "One Health." Focusing on five major directions—international talent cultivation, transnational collaborative research, compliant access to the veterinary drug market, traditional medicine innovation, and collaborative human-animal health governance—IAFPH will persistently smooth the channels for intercommunication of scientific and educational resources between China, France, and Africa. By doing so, it aims to drive the implementation of cutting-edge technologies and substantiate industrial projects, contributing multilateral cooperative strength to regional agricultural health development and global public health security.