The 33^rd World Veterinary Congress Organizing Committee plans to declare the VET VISION 2050 for inspiring the social role of the veterinarians to overcome the current and future challenges from all over the world as well as to improve the optimal health and wellbeing of animals, humans, and the environment.
An agenda on the social role and responsibility of the veterinarians around the world will be created according to the following steps. Based on the agenda, VET VISTION 2050 will be declared to articulate our aspirations and lay the foundation for setting a guide for future actions.

Selecting Key Topics

The survey to select key topics of the VET VISION 2050 declaration has been conducted from March 17 to 28, 2017. There were 700 responses from all around the world to the questionnaire on ‘Challenges for Veterinarians in the 21^st Century’ and ‘Issues for Future, Our Future Responsibility and Ambition’.

Result of Survey

Ranking	Challenges for Veterinarians in the 21st Century	Issues for Future, Our Future Responsibility and Ambition
1st	Increasing risk of transboundary zoonoses and emerging animal diseases caused by global environmental changes including climate change	Controlling zoonoses
2nd	Problem of securing sustainable agricultural productivity and food safety to meet the increasing meat demand led by growing human population and urbanization	Securing animal welfare
3rd	Increase of animal diseases and suffering due to industrialized animal production	Enhancing animal health
4th	-	Controlling emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases
5th	-	Securing food safety
6th	-	Enhancing respect for our scientific expertise (beyond the limited perception of veterinarians as purely animal doctors)
7th	-	Assurance of professional wellness

Categorizing Key Topics

Considering the result of survey for key topics, five categories were created as follows. Each category contains Challenges for Veterinarians in the 21^st Century and Future Tasks for Veterinarians.

Five Categories	Challenges for Veterinarians in the 21st Century	Future Tasks for Veterinarians
Controlling pathogen and diseases in animal and human interface	Increasing risk of transboundary zoonoses and emerging animal diseases caused by global environmental changes including climate change Alarming loss of global biodiversity	Controlling emerging and re-emerging infectious disease Controlling zoonosis Promoting One Health leadership Promoting environmental health Conserving biodiversity and endangered wildlife Enhancing cross-disciplinary and international collaboration Enhancing inter-professional collaboration
Securing sustainable and safe food supply	Problem of securing sustainable agricultural productivity and food safety to meet the increasing meat demand led by growing human population and urbanization Appropriate regulation (quality control) of animal medicines with professional oversight for responsible use	Securing food safety Enhancing public communication Understanding sustainable agriculture and ecosystem
Protecting (promoting, securing) animal health and welfare	Increase of animal diseases and suffering due to industrialized animal production Advance of biomedical science meeting a demand for customized medical services	Enhancing animal health Securing animal welfare Understanding sociocultural issues on animals and animal diseases Developing biomedical science Innovation in veterinary technology and service
Supplying competent veterinarians globally	International harmonization of veterinary education for entry level regulatory and clinical core competencies	Enhancing professional ethics of veterinarians Improving veterinary lifelong learning Enhancing respect for our scientific expertise (beyond the limited perception of veterinarians as purely animal doctors) Encouraging entrepreneurship Assurance of professional wellness
Providing (equal) quality veterinary care to ALL animals (ethics, standards, values of veterinarians)		Provide an optimal/equal care for all animals

Developing a Draft of Declaration

Working groups of international experts from each field have been organized in order to deal with 5 categories in depth and a draft of VET VISION 2050 declaration has been made by the working groups. The VET VISION 2050 Committee would kindly like to ask you to submit your comments and suggestions for the draft by August 6, 2017 through the following link.

Draft of Declaration Suggest Opinions

Preparing Final Version of Declaration Draft

Reflecting opinions of the international experts, the VET VISION 2050 Committee has finalized the declaration draft. It is available to preview and download the draft though the following link. If you have any comments on the declaration, please participate in the Brain Storming Session which is scheduled on August 30, 2017 and express your opinions freely.

Draft of Declaration