Visiting US Health and Human Service Minister Michael O Leavitt and his Indonesian counterpart Siti Fadilah Supari met at the presidential office here on Monday to discuss the continuation of bilateral cooperation in bird flu management, ANTARA reported. "We meet to follow up on talks on bird flu management that we held in Geneva ten days ago," Siti Fadilah Supari said after the meeting. She said the follow-up talks with the US health and human services minister were held to find a solution to the Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) on the shipment of bird flu virus samples to the United States. According to the Indonesian health affairs minister, almost all of Indonesia`s proposals on MTA were approved at the Geneva meeting although their formats were simplified. The minister said developing countries including Indonesia wanted MTA to ensure transparency in the use of bird flu virus specimens, transfer of technology to produce bird flu vaccine, and equality in the right to access vaccines. US Health and Human Service Minister Michael Leavitt was on a two-day visit in Indonesia starting Monday (April 14) to strengthen bilateral cooperation in health affairs, a US Embassy staffer Kresna Soegio said. He said there was close cooperation between Indonesia and the United States in health affairs, especially in bird flu management.
