Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations on Sunday gave their support to Russia's initiative to build within its territory a World Health Organization (WHO) center for the fight against bird flu in Eurasia and Central Asia

"We welcome the Russian proposal to establish the WHO Collaborating Center on Influenza for Eurasia and Central Asia, subject to meeting all applicable WHO and other international standards, to enhance international capacity to counter the spread of the viruses in the region," said a statement on the fight against infectious diseases adopted at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg.

In the statement, the leaders pledged "to help the global community prepare for a possible human influenza pandemic, including timely implementation of the commitments made at the January 2006 Beijing International Pledging Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza."

The leaders said that the international community should be "adequately prepared and equipped" in fighting the disease, which has already affected economies and raised concerns globally.

"The good news is that our initiatives, including setting up a regional center to fight avian influenza, have been supported, and our general leadership on the issue has been recognized," said Russia's chief epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko.

"The main thing is that the leaders are uniting to fight infectious diseases. That is the principal difference between it and other topics discussed at this summit," Onishchenko said.

Source: Xinhua