Addressing the three-day workshop, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong said bird flu is temporarily under control in Vietnam but there is a risk that the situation could become complicated.

The deputy minister called for incorporating bird flu prevention and control programmes and activities while focusing on restructuring the poultry industry and accelerating research and inspection work.

The conference heard international experts report on a model outlining the risk and progress of the virus, epidemiological research on bird flu-infected pountry of different kinds, and campaigns to raise public awareness of the disease and its prevention.

Appearing in Vietnam since 2003, bird flu has caused great losses to many provinces and cities nationwide. However, since March 2008, no human bird flu case has been discovered in the country and the rate of poultry infected with the disease has dropped rapidly.

Head Representative of the World Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Andrew Speedy, said the Vietnamese government acknowledged the problem from the beginning and the country has succeeded in reducing the spread of the virus.

He stressed the importance of research in deciding measures to effectively stamp out the epidemic and warned Vietnam to reconsider vaccination which he said is effective but costly.