A senior expert and advisor to the European Union is conducting research and preparing reports on the establishment of an international center for the quarantine of horses on Kish Island. The center will standardize Iranian and European methods of horse breeding, and will put Iran on the list of countries having permission to import or export horses. It will also pave the way for Iran to hold international horse races. Following an agreement signed by the Iranian Veterinary Medicine Organization and its French counterpart, the Head of the French Horse-Riding Committee has traveled to the island. He announced that the island's technical facilities and climate make the island a suitable place for exchanging horse breeding technology and improving its standards. He also expressed hope that the quarantine project on Kish would be in effect next year and pave the way for the first international horse race on the island. In the Persian Gulf region, only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and to the north only Russia, have international quarantine facilities.