Belgium is to stage an international conference on the prevention and control of foot and mouth disease during its presidency of the European Union. The event will be held in conjunction with the European Commission, the Netherlands and the UK and is expected to outline the lessons of the recent epidemic, which affected 4 member states of the EU.

More than 400 participants will be at the conference, to be held in Brussels on December 12-13, with many specialists presenting papers. The participants will come from all 15 EU member states, candidate countries, countries from every region of the world, and international and European organisations.