In all, 83 persons from 29 countries participated in the CaribVET Events in Jamaica.

The Annual Meeting of the Steering Committee of CaribVET gathered 62 participants to review the achievements of the network in 2016-2017 and prepare the recommendations to guide the technical Working Groups, the Coordination Unit and the Project Partners on the definition of a new roadmap for the years to come. In addition to the current regional priorities, new emerging threats and the implications for the veterinary services were discussed: anti-microbial resistance, disaster risk reduction and management, vector-borne diseases.

One Health. A one Health session was organized in order to review the main achievements of the EU/S&T II Programme One health One Caribbean One Love Project, coordinated by the University of the West Indies. The 12th CaribVET Steering Committee was also the closure of the OHOCOL project, a way to maximize visibility of the project and sustain the key achievements throught the network.

Sustainability. Furthermore, recognized as a strong and essential platform in the Caribbean contributing to strengthen preparedness and response to emerging threats, the CaribVET Steering Committee is still depending much on projects sources. The SC had strategized on its sustainability strategy most specifically related to funding and human resources and put forward the work on the legal status of the network for more visibility and to ease access to more permanent sources of fundings needed for the establishment of a regional Secretariat.

Avian Influenza Preparedness. Following the 2016 expert evaluation conducted on the Highly Pathogenic Avian influenza regional Preparedness plan, a review of the recommendations and actions undertaken in 2016-2017 was made.

First external evaluation. 5 regional and international experts travelled to Jamaica in order to meet and interviewed the major stakeholders of the network. The main objective of the evaluation is to assess the network’s ability to deliver on stated objectives going forward. The result of the evaluation will be made avilable and published on the website as soon as the report is validated by the CaribVET SC.

Elections - New CaribVET Steering Committee President and 4 new Members. A new Chairperson was elected for 2 years (Dr. Auria King, Chief Veterinary Officer, St. Lucia) who succeeded to Dr. Kathian Hachkshaw, Chief Veterinary Officer of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who served the network for 6 years. Four new members were welcomed in the CaribVET Steering Committee bringing to 47 the total number of CaribVET SC Members.

- CAHFSA (Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency),

- The French Collectivy of Saint Martin / Saint Barthelemy being the 34th Caribbean country/Territory member of CaribVET.

- Ross University School Veterinary Medicine (St. Kitts and Nevis)

- Saint Georges University School of Veterinary Medicine (Grenada)

Elections - New Working Group Chairs.

About half of the Coordination Unit was renewed with the election of the future chair for the Avian Diseases Working Group (Dr. Pastor Alfonso, CENSA, Cuba who will chair the group next year after Dr. Mark Trotman, CVO of Barbados), a new chair for the Swine Diseases Working Group (Dr. Wendy Gonzalez, DIGEGA, Dominican Republic, replacing Dr. Gillian Ellis, MICAF, Jamaica) and a new chair for the Laboratory, Quality Assurance and Diagnostic (Mr. David Elcock, Veterinary Services Laboratory, Barbados, following Dr. Cedric Lazarus, FAO, Panam).

The tremendous contribution of the working groups chairs and project leaders was commended by the Steering Committee for their achievements.