Perspectives of ACP countries involvement in standard-setting

1. Perspectives of ACP countries involvement in standard-setting Dr. Medhat El-Helepi AU/IBAR Economist and PAN-SPSO Project Coordinator Brussels Development Briefing on Food safety and health standards- CTA May 11, 2009, Belgium

2. Presentation Structure • AU/IBAR • Project data sheet • Rational • Objectives • Operation • Activities directly aimed at improving participation effectiveness

3. AU/IBAR • AU/IBAR stands for African Union-Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources • Established in 1951 to study the epidemogical situation and fight rinderpest in Africa. • Became one of the regional technical offices of the AU in 1965 • As other six regional technical offices, AU/IBAR reports directly to the Director of the Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) of the AUC • It has the mandated to support and coordinate the improvement of animals as a resource for human wellbeing in the member states of the African Union and to contribute to economic development, particularly in rural areas.

4. AU/IBAR • AU/IBAR approaches livestock development from three strategic angles: animal health, animal production, and trade of animal products. • AU/IBAR managed to eradicate/controlling several animal diseases in Africa • It does so though a number of projects and programs • It runs 9 ongoing projects with a total fund of around $60m • It has 4 projects in the pipeline for another $60m

5. PAN-SPSO • Title: Participation of African Nations in Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standard-Setting Organizations (PAN-SPSO) • Total Fund: EURO 3,855,000 EC Contribution: EURO 3,350,000 from intra-ACP funds of the 9th EDF IBAR & IAPSC (co-implementers) Contribution: EURO 505,000 Implementation Partners: COMESA, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, CEN-SAD, IGAD, SADC • Implementation Period: Three years started 5/2008

6. Rational • Exporting countries need to prove that the standards they are applying are science-based, equivalent, and does not constitute a barrier to trade. • African countries have had it difficult proving that the products they export meet international standards and are equivalent to those of their developed-country trading partners. • Most programmes that address SPS related problems have focused on technical issues of compliance

7. Less work has been done on promoting participation in setting SPS standards meetings where effective participation of African countries in the formulation of international SPS standards remains a fundamental problem

8. PAN-SPSO • Objectives: • Overall Objective: to contribute the reduction of poverty, and enhanced food security in Africa through greater access for agricultural products from African countries to international markets. • Specific Objective: facilitate effective participation of African countries in the activities of the OIE, IPPC and CAC during the formulation of international standards on food safety, animal and plant health.

9. PAN-SPSO • Beneficiary Countries: ACP member states of the African Union that are: • Members of the WTO • Participating in the activities of the OIE, IPPC and CAC • Members at any of the eight recognized Regional Economic Communities (RECs)

10. PAN-SPSO • Stakeholders: • African Union Directorate Of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DERA) • AU/IBAR and AU-IAPSC • African Nations • African Regional Economic Communities • STDF • Private sector • Institutions involved in setting International standards (OIE, CAC, IPPC), and WTO

11. PAN-SPSO • Final beneficiaries: African agricultural (including livestock and fisheries) producers, market operators and agro-processors

12. PAN-SPSO • Expected Results: • Result 1: African countries strengthened to empower SPS offices for effective participation in SPS standard setting activities • Result 2: Common position of African nations in SPS standards at continental and REC levels strengthened

13. PAN-SPSO • Result 3: Technical capacity of African countries to draft standards and to develop arguments strengthened • Result 4:Relevant SPS-related data and information are acquired and disseminated to African countries through established accessible information sharing platform

14. Reasons Behind Lack of Effective Participation in “Producing” Standards • Access to experts who are qualified to take active part in scientific discussions at the national level is difficult. • The high turnover among the African staff attending the OIE, IPPC and CAC technical committee meetings and the lack of follow-up mechanism on decisions reached during these meetings.

15. There is the problem of inadequate technical capacity and available resources to engage in the development of new standards and in assessing the scientific justifications for particular SPS measures. • The lack of harmonization and net-working makes it difficult to come up with common policy options. • Low political support • Overloaded duties

16. Weaknesses / Needs(from ISSOs point of view) • Low budget / political support • Improper institutional settings (representation, preparation) • Lack of coordination and common position • Lack of tech. capacities and qualified personnel • Low Understanding of ISSOs processes

17. Consequences of Low Participation • On ISSOs • Lack of equity • Lack of relevance • Lack of credibility of ISSOs and standards • On African countries • African specificities not taken into account • Standards difficult to meet • Low ownership and understanding of standards • Inadequate implementation of standards

18. Activities aimed directly at strengthening the participation of African Nations • Facilitate identifying SPS issues of continental/ regional/national interest and provide analysis of related SPS standards to facilitate the formulation of common position and regional strategies for attendance at ISSOs. • Organize at least one annual consultation meeting for Directors of Food Safety, Veterinary Services and Plant Protection to share ideas and information prior to the OIE, IPPC and Codex standard-setting meetings. • Identify experts in particular SPS fields to provide training and technical expertise on commenting on draft standards to national representatives and on developing standards. • Organize at least one annual consultation meeting for Directors of Food Safety, Veterinary Services and Plant Protection to share ideas and information prior to the OIE, IPPC and Codex standard-setting meetings

19. Activities aimed directly at strengthening the participation of African Nations (Cont.) • Facilitate identifying SPS issues of continental/ regional/national interest and provide analysis of related SPS standards to facilitate the formulation of common position and regional strategies for attendance at ISSOs. • RECs organize training workshops on the use of science-based methods and development of drafts, discussion papers, scientific arguments (comments and revisions) in standard-setting.

20. Activities aimed directly at strengthening the participation of African Nations (Cont.) • Support national training by selected representatives • Facilitate development, drafting standards, commenting on draft standards and reviewing existing standards in areas of interest to African countries

21. Activities aimed directly at strengthening the participation of African Nations (Cont.) • Set up an integrated database for SPSrelated data by upgrading the current ARIS database in IBAR • Produce SPS updates on a bi-annual basis containing information on relevant SPS issues regarding animal and plant production and food safety. These updates will provide simplification of relevant articles of OIE, CAC and IPPC Codes and avail these to countries for use by their participants • Compile research results and scientific information related to most relevant standards and produce briefings on each of them

22. PAN-SPSO: Implementation modalities (1) • IBAR and IAPSC are co-implementers providing the technical guidelines for the implementation of the project. • The day-to-day management of the project will be undertaken by the Project Coordination unit (PCU). The PCU consist of the project Coordinator, Food Safety Expert, relevant technical staff from IBAR and IAPSC, Administrative Assistant.

23. PAN-SPSO: Implementation modalities (2) • 7 RECs (COMESA, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, CEN-SAD, IGAD, SADC) are partners, implementing a number of activities at the REC level. • RECs will assign designated focal point who will be responsible for formulating a detailed annual work plan to be submitted to the PCU, and will be in charge of the implementation of the activities approved. • RECs will be working closely with member states to ensure achieving the expected results.

24. Project Organizational Structure African Union (DREA) Project Steering Committee AU/IBAR Project Coordination Unit Project Support Unit STDF Phyto-Sanitary Unit IAPSC, Yaoundé Zoo-Sanitary Unit IBAR, Nairobi Info flow 7 RECs Member States

25. Defining Guidelines • The project is working closely with ISSOs, as well other organizations such as STDF, FAO and USAID, to build synergies, avoid duplication of efforts aimed at improving the participation of African countries in the activities of ISSOs organizations and to make advantage of regional meetings and already existing databases, ToRs and manual training. • The project highly support RECs to coordinate the actions of African countries during the activities of ISSOs, giving more focus on building the capacity of RECs. RECs-based activities should take into consideration the variation in SPS level among RECs and the RECs ongoing programs. • PAN-SPSO focuses its activities into the following themes: a- Building capacity of RECs secretariats and countries b- Encourage having common position among African countries in ISSOs activities c- Encourage establishing national SPS committees d- Strengthening SPS data and information share among African countries

26. PAN-SPSO Foreseen Activities • Panafrican CVOs meeting on Africa’s coordinated position on animal health standards • Draft ISPM workshop • Training of experts and RECs staff • Training of national delegates to ISSOs at regional level • Training of national staff at country level • Promoting SPS national committees • Support RECs to apply for observer status with ISSOs and WTO • Support the participation of RECs in the attendance of WTO-SPS and ISSOs meeting • Extend the ARIS 11 to include data on plant health and information on food safety

27. Role of AU/IBAR: Mechanism for coordination of Africa’s position on animal health standards • Secretariat at IBAR (PAN-SPSO then IBAR) • 2 CVOs annual meeting: April, November, institutionalized, PAN-SPSO support for 2 years • Expert consultative group

28. Secretariat requests contribution by African experts (to be identified) for groups of issues on proposed amendments (September and March meetings) • Proposals of comments/positions are circulated to CVOs for endorsement before meetings • Common position(s) circulated and submitted by countries

29. CVOs meetings: finalize common position on: • Decisions for adoption at general session (May) • Comments on standards proposed for new cycle (August, December) • Identification of new issues to be proposed for committees or ad-hoc groups • Nomination of experts to represent Africa in different technical committees

30. PAN-SPSODr. Medhat El-HelepiEconomist & PAN-SPSO Coordinator & African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU/IBAR)Kenindia Business Park Building, Museum Hill, Westlands RoadP. O. Box 30786-00100Nairobi, KenyaTel: +254 20 3674 203 (Direct)       +254 20 3674 000 (Switchboard)Cel: +254 0736161034Fax: +254 20 3674 341Email: medhat.elhelepi@au-ibar.orgPrivate email: medhat.magdi@gmail.com