Under the World Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS World) programme, which just entered a second phase of implementation, we ensure training activities in non-EU countries to improve and strengthen the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) framework to allow better production, processing and trade of safe food, healthy animals and plants.
From 29 November to 3 December, we organised a regional workshop on ’Supporting effective participation in Codex Alimentarius activities for CCEURO countries’. The Codex Alimentarius is a globally recognised set of standards, guidelines and codes of practice overseen by the UN’s Rome-based Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). As such, the workshop set out to strengthen the capacity of 9 non-EU countries* across Southeast Europe and Central Asia to actively participate in the work of the CAC and its subsidiary bodies.
Although the workshop was hosted by Kazakhstan, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic meant that participants had to attend virtually rather than experience this time of the year’s freezing Central Asian temperatures. Over five half-day sessions, attendees gained knowledge about the international trading system is agri-food products and the role of international standard setting bodies, as well as skills relevant to fostering greater participation in the development and implementation of Codex standards. One of the workshop’s biggest highlights was a novel ‘mock session’ of a Codex Alimentarius committee meeting, where participants roleplayed the proceedings of a real Codex Committee on Chocolate Products meeting.
To learn more about upcoming SPS World activities, keep an eye on the dedicated theTrainingPlace.eu page: World Sanitary and Phytosanitary
* Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia.
Photo source: PhotoMIX Company (Pixabay)