The 10th Pan African meeting of Africa’s National Codex Contact Point Officers to develop coordinated position on Codex standards was held from 17th to 18th May 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting was officially opened by Prof. Ahmed Elsawalhy, Director of AU-IBAR. There were opening remarks from Dr. Maritim Kimutai, Chairperson of FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Africa (CCAFRICA) and Mr. Sebasteien Goux, Deputy Head of Unit on Multilateral International Relations of the European Union.
The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. John Oppong-Otoo, Food Safety Officer, at AU-IBAR and Dr. Maritim Kimutai. Delegates from 41 African Union Member States, and Representative from ECOWAS, EU attended the meeting. During the meeting, reports and draft standards from 8 Codex committees were reviewed by participants.
The meeting led to the adoption of African common positions on draft Codex standards scheduled for adoption at the 41st Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission which will be held in Rome, Italy from the 2nd to 6th July 2018.
Other issues discussed during the meeting included:
- Africa’s participation in Codex electronic working groups
- The Codex Trust Fund and
- Data Generation to support Codex work
The meeting was organized under the auspices of the Standards and Trade Secretariat (STS) for Animal Health and Food Safety of AU-IBAR. The STS is a permanent coordination mechanism, established to facilitate the effective participation of African countries in the activities of the OIE and the Codex Alimentarius Commission during the formulation of international standards on animal health and food safety, and in the negotiations of the WTO-SPS Committee. The overall objective of the STS is to promote food security and market access of Africa’s agricultural products to regional and international markets by supporting Member States to establish effective food safety and animal health controls.