DUSHANBE, January 9, Asia-Plus  -- International conference on bird flu is supposed to be held in Beijing from January 16-19, Asia-Plus has learned from Mullojon Amirbekov, Tajikistan’s Head Veterinarian.

According to him, the conference is bringing together experts from the CIS countries and China.  The conference is aiming to discuss a strategy of combating bird flu.  Experts from the ministry of agriculture and health will represent Tajikistan at the conference in China, Amirbekov said.  

The conference is staged by the World Health Organization, China’s Government and the World Bank.   

According to Amirbekov, Tajikistan has imposed ban on imports of chickens and other birds and poultry products from Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, China and Romania to help prevent the spread of bird flu in the republic.  The Tajik Ministry of Agriculture has banned imports of live chickens, chicken meat and eggs, and other poultry products from these countries, where an outbreak of bird flu was registered.

At present Tajikistan continues importing chickens, poultry products and eggs from Iran and the United States.  

World media report international bird flu experts have gone to the eastern Turkish region of Van, to try to find out how quickly the deadly H5N1 strain is spreading.  Turkish officials reported five new human cases of bird flu on Monday, detected in several provinces.  Earlier, two children and an adult tested positive for H5N1 in Turkey''s capital Ankara; at least two children died of H5N1 in the eastern village of Dogubeyazit.  A mass cull of poultry is under way in the area.