DHAKA: In order to control different diseases of goat and sheep, a laboratory will be set up in Savar within a year under the Trans-boundary Animal Disease Control Project under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or SAARC, officials said.

Two other laboratories -- Foot and Mouth Disease Laboratory and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Laboratory -- under the same project will be set up in India and Pakistan respectively.   

Md. Sufiur Rahman, Director General for SAARC at the Foreign Ministry said the laboratories will contribute to fight different diseases in the SAARC region.

The Trans-boundary Animal Disease Control project is financed by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Development Fund (SDF) in which Bangladesh contributed Tk 45 crore.

The SDF was created to finance different social, economic and infrastructure projects in the region.

Rahman said Bangladesh is also trying to include itself in the first project financed by SDF on Maternal and Child Health which will provide medical equipments to three SAARC member countries - Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan.

The fund has an authorized capital of 200 SDR (special drawing rights), equivalent to 300 million US dollar.

SDF charter has been signed in 15th summit of SAARC at Colombo in Sri-lanka.

BDST: 1900 HRS. JULY 7, 2010