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