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Particular	ITALY
Convenor	Erika Young
Office Address	Via GB Falda 7 Rome 00152 Italy
Landline Tel.No.	0039-658-95458
Mobile No.	0039-334-9586977
Email	eyoung@tiscali.it
Website	http://www.padiglionilontani.com

EU Export
Unfortunately despite a lot of work this past year this issue is still ongoing and has not been resolved positively. Status quo is still in place.

You are all aware that to export Marwaris and Kathiawaris permission has to be sought from the Ministry of Agriculture. So far the conditions laid down for export were: (1) temporary export for one year (and return), (2) a deposit of one lakh, (3) commitment not to breed while abroad, and (4) (unofficially) horses had to be registered with the Marwari Horse Society.

This last condition (registration with the Marwari Horse Society) has now been reiterated and appears to have become standard official Government policy. Letters have recently been sent repeating this important condition for export.

So anyone wishing to apply for temporary export of Marwaris for any event abroad (fairs, shows, exhibitions, etc.) will now have to register their Marwaris with the MHS.

This will require further work by the IHSI office holders.

Export of other breeds (Sindhi, etc.) will continue not to require a permit from the Ministry.

Malaysia
Malaysia is still not taking horses from India. Other countries where horses could go and are not EU countries, but can import into the EU, do not have a protocol with India (China, for example, but also many other EU satellite countries). This might not be an obstacle and I am sounding other satellite countries around the EU to see whether or not there is an opening elsewhere. Although they might not have a protocol with India, if they accept horses and are a EU-approved third country it’s well worth finding out and establishing a clink with them.

At the moment the United States is still the only option. St. Pierre and Miquelon have closed, Mauritius is upgrading.

Veterinary Issues
Establishing India as an EU-approved third country has also been negatively affected. There was a recent outbreak of glanders in India

January/February) which prompted the Equestrian Federation of India to cancel an international invitational endurance. A serious mistake
Further, the EFI placed the reason (Glanders) on their website (so the whole world knows including veterinary authorities and governments abroad) and this information found its way to the EU officials in Brussels.

Glanders is, as you know, a OIE-notifiable disease and the fact that to date (May 2011) India has NOT notified the OIE, has Brussels to specifically say that the EU will not be looking at India for some time, given it is unreliable in such matters.

After the long ban on export due to EI, it is certain that the attitude and approach of the Indian authorities is doing nothing to assist export and prove itself to be a reliable partner in these matters.

The official also added that they would choose their middle eastern partners carefully, and by that he meant neighbouring countries close to and around India.