The fourth and last PMT meeting was held on May 19th – 20th, 2015, at the National Research Institute for Veterinary Virology and Microbiology of Russia (VNIIVViM) in Pokrov ( http://www.vniivvim.ru) , Russian Federation.

The meeting was opened to Contract Managers and to Work-package leaders, task leaders and to a few other collaborators in the project.  Twenty five delegates from 14 partners (out of 18), attended the meeting.

During the opening session, Prof. Denis Kolbasov, Director of  VNIIVViM  and the organizer of the meeting,  addressed a welcome note to all the participants, emphasizing the great pleasure his institution had  for having the opportunity to host the event.

The coordinator (Prof. Carlos Martins,) reinforced the importance for the organization of the meeting in Pokrov,   taking in consideration the role of VNIIVViM , the partner of Eastern Europe on ASFORCE, on the successful progress of the work developed in different areas of the project. He addressed also an overall review on the major goals and guidelines for the meeting.

The meeting was organized on two parallel sessions chaired by the Theme Leaders and Co-Leaders or their representatives (common session for Themes 2 and Theme 3, independent session for Theme 4). Ongoing work under Theme 5 was presented and discussed during a plenary session. Legal, administrative and financial aspects of the ASFORCE project were presented by the Project Manager – Paula Viana and discussed with Project Managers.

Delegates presented the work progress towards objectives of the different Themes, in particular since the work reported during the last Full Consortium Meeting (FCM) in Montpellier with emphasis to achievements and attainment of deliverables and milestones concluded by month 32, and perspectives on the progress of the work to be concluded by the end of the project in September 2015.

During parallel sessions, organized as round table discussions, Theme Leaders confirmed the main strategies for the development of different tasks and provided the opportunity for oral presentations of WP leaders and/or task leaders to introduce a comprehensive overview (oral presentations) of the work developed..

Fruitful discussions took place. Collaborations needed for the completion of work were strengthened. During a final plenary session of the meeting, each Theme Leader presented a brief summary of conclusions taken during the different work sessions, namely on the work accomplished as well as on the work to be pursued within each Theme, up to the end of the project.

The coordinator acknowledged the excellent logistics for the meeting organization and emphasized the particular role of colleagues from VNIIVViM who guided and accompanied the participants on their travels to Pokrov.  

A social dinner was organized on a traditional restaurant in Pokrov, allowing an excellent and friendly occasion for the reinforcement of personal interactions among participants.