KL, Bangkok to hold talks on bird flu

KL, Bangkok to hold talks on bird flu

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will send a team of senior agriculture officials to Thailand next week for urgent talks on tightening border controls against the spread of bird flu, which has forced a quarantine of Malaysia's northern Kelantan state.

"We want to tell them we are very serious in wanting to get rid of the disease," Hawari Hussein, director general of Malaysia's veterinary department, said on Friday.

Malaysia has blamed a pair of outbreaks of bird flu over the past month on fighting cocks smuggled across the border from Thailand, one of the countries worst hit by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

But, despite declarations of increased antismuggling measures, Malaysia has continued to discover contraband shipments of live or dead birds. The talks in Bangkok are set for Tuesday. -- AP