Non-trade issues become more and more an important factor in the international food trade. These non-trade issues include among others animal welfare. In the Netherlands society, public concern about animal welfare is reflected in the presence of the Partij voor de Dieren in the parliament while in the European Union the importance for animal welfare is reflected in regulations and research. As a result improvement of animal welfare is an important aspect of the present policy of the Netherlands government. The policy paper Animal Welfare describes the priorities and actions the Netherlands government will pursue. The Netherlands government considers animal welfare not only be a national or European issue but likes to intensify its efforts to improve animal welfare also at the international level. In third countries (outside the EU), attention for animal welfare seems to be less but evidence based information is limited. Besides improvement related to animal welfare in animal production, harvest or treatment of wild animals and practices in aquaculture have the attention of public opinion and interest groups in the Netherlands and require attention in international fora and bilateral relations with third countries. In order to start dialogue, objective, evidence based information on animal welfare in third countries is needed. Knowledge regarding the actual situation concerning animal welfare (legal framework as well as practice) and the perception (drivers) has to be gathered in order to compare the standard in third countries with the standards in the European Union. The ambition of the Netherlands government to improve animal welfare within the EU might be questioned by other member states but also by parties in the national scene as it might affect the competitiveness of the animal production sector in the liberalized world market.  However, the Netherlands government likes to elaborate as part of the integral policy regarding animal welfare is to identify multilateral and bilateral options to improve understanding, to obtain support and if possible adoption of the European drivers and framework regarding animal welfare. Evidence based knowledge could assist in the discussion on the development global standards concerning animal welfare to be set like institutions like the OIE. Lack of knowledge in third countries regarding animal welfare is another issue that can hinder improvement of practices. A large knowledge base concerning management options and economic benefits of animal friendly production systems is present in the Netherlands. This knowledge can be of use for third countries to improve on their practices and legislation.

Also in the field of control and prevention of infectious diseases, the Netherlands has extensive knowledge on the epidemiology, the control, prevention and procedures and management of outbreaks of infectious diseases. However, new emerging diseases appear, due to climate change, increased transport, tourism but also increased intensive animal production in third countries. Examples are blue tongue, avian influenza etc. These emerging diseases pose not only a direct new threat to animal production in the Netherlands and EU but hinder also international trade. Measures for prevention and management of outbreaks need to be based on knowledge on these diseases and international cooperation for setting standards and procedures. There is a need for international research and cooperation with partner countries to combat these emerging diseases. Knowledge available in the Netherlands on control and prevention like vaccine production etc in combination with local knowledge could lead to quick responses and development of standards which can be discussed and adopted worldwide through the OIE.

The general approach in addressing the issues of animal welfare and emerging diseases is to collect knowledge in third countries on practices, legislation and in case of animal welfare also perceptions and to transfer specific knowledge by means of joint research and capacity building to local experts to broaden the expertise in the partner countries.

The area of research concerning animal welfare is complex and broad. Therefore, the research focuses on specific domains and a number of countries with whom the Netherlands have intensive bilateral relations in terms of trade, nature conservation. The research areas are animal production, nature related issues like harvest/treatment of wild animals and aquaculture. Not only data collection regarding legislation, practices and perception is needed but also to look into economic benefits of improved livestock practices regarding animal welfare. Close contact between the policy makers and researcher is required concerning the research on animal welfare to address the right questions, to communicate results quickly. Besides, animal welfare is not only a political sensitive issue in the Netherlands but because of non-trade concerns in partner countries. Data collection will be done in liaison with the Netherlands Agricultural Offices in the partners’ countries but will not affect the independency of the research. Results will be presented in the form of reports, policy brief etc but also communicated in international fora like OIE, FAO. The multilateral part of the research program focuses particularly on gaining knowledge on practices, legislation and perceptions of animal welfare in third countries, while bilateral projects address certain issues like animal welfare during transport of animals and/or economic benefits of application of animal welfare practices. Capacity building of local expertise is part of these bilateral initiatives.

International research and cooperation with partner countries is also needed in case of emerging diseases. The knowledge in the Netherlands regarding methodologies, diagnostics and vaccine development for control of infectious diseases will be combined with local knowledge and field evidence for development of prevention and control procedures. In this way the Netherlands can contribute to develop international standards by among others OIE. The Avian Influenza project in Indonesia, the Rift Valley Fever and African Horse Sickness projects are examples of exchange of knowledge and bilateral cooperation for development of standards for control and prevention. Knowledge gained will be communicated through international scientific fora and multilateral organizations like FAO.