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FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific
FAO Headquarters Rome,
Wednesday, 29 April 2003
14.00 hours, Malaysia Room (B-227)
ANNEX 1 - LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
The first preparatory meeting for the FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific was held at FAO Headquarters on 29 April 2003. The meeting was attended by all invited countries (those that have a representation in Rome) in the Asian and Pacific region other than Kazakhstan, Myanmar, New Zealand and Sri Lanka (see List of Participants in Annex 1).
Mr Hartwig de Haen, Assistant Director-General, FAO Economic and Social Department, welcomed the delegates on behalf of FAO and WHO and emphasized the importance of sharing concerns and working together to improve food safety in the countries of the Asian and Pacific region.
Mr de Haen recalled the first Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators held in January 2002, the Pan-European Conference on Food Safety held in February 2002, and the upcoming second Global Forum to be held in 2004. The advice of the 123rd Session of the FAO Council on convening other regional food safety conferences, the recommendation of the 13th Codex Coordinating Committee for Asia, and the expression of interest from Malaysia in hosting a regional conference on food safety were also noted. In light of this background, FAO had convened this meeting to seek confirmation from the countries of the region of their interest in convening such a conference, receive guidance on the content and organizational aspects of the conference, and to discuss funding for the event. WHO will also be holding a similar meeting with the permanent missions to WHO in Geneva in May or early June 2003.
The delegates expressed general support to the proposal of convening a regional conference, welcomed the opportunity to discuss the matter, and expressed appreciation for the offer of the Government of Malaysia to host the proposed Conference. The meeting provided ideas to the Secretariat for containing the cost of such a Conference and offered in-kind and budgetary contributions to reduce the overall cost (see item 8 in this report and revised budget in Annex 4). The delegates expressed their desire to creatively overcome the remaining financial needs of the Conference. The countries will be notified by the time of the Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting in late June 2003 whether adequate funding for the Conference has been secured by the Secretariat.
The meeting emphasized the importance that the Conference takes into account the guidance of the FAO Council and yields practical results and capacity building actions that governments can utilize, but not necessarily make policy recommendations, as this would duplicate the objectives of other fora such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
The objectives of the Conference were revised as indicated in Annex 2.
The meeting discussed the proposed themes and offered suggestions for amendments and re-structuring. The revised themes are included in Annex 2. The meeting agreed that these revised themes should be re-circulated along with the report of the preparatory meeting to all governments of the region for comments. Once the list of themes is finalised, countries of the region will be consulted for the preparation of the relevant papers, on a voluntary basis. In addition, the secretariat will identify consultants to prepare some of the theme papers.
The meeting discussed the format of the Conference. The consensus was to have four plenary presentations by governments/consultants on four main themes including the listed sub-points under each theme. Any theme(s) included in the list but not addressed in the plenary sessions should be covered through information documents, including any related prior publications. Papers could be written jointly by more than one country and could also be contributed by NGOs.
Conference Room Documents (CRDs) addressing the national situation in relation to the themes of the Conference could be prepared by the countries of the region. These documents could be made available to participants prior to the Conference. Countries could also have side events or poster stands to present examples of programmes and actions implemented to address specific food safety issues. Informal meetings, not supported by the FAO/WHO secretariat, could be held before and/or after the three-day conference, if desired.
The meeting expressed general support to the proposal of convening two working groups. The two working groups could each cover two issues, one in each session. Accordingly, practical action points for all four main plenary themes could be developed in the working groups. Ideally, two representatives from each country would participate in the Conference so that all countries could contribute to the working group discussions.
In discussing the selection of themes for the working groups, the meeting agreed that such themes should provide opportunity for countries to establish concrete proposals for actions at the national and regional level to improve food safety. The meeting considered that these themes: "C) Prioritization and coordination of capacity building activities" and "D) Information exchange, education and communication" provided such opportunity.
The meeting considered that issues such as consumers' rights, increased consumer awareness, and producer obligations need to be implicitly addressed in the themes.
The delegates attending the Conference should represent both the technical and policy aspects of national food safety systems. Representatives should be senior enough to influence policy decisions, yet still near to the practical application of food safety measures.
The meeting agreed to open the Conference to delegates from countries outside the region, as observers. Only FAO- recognized (international) NGOs should be allowed to participate as observers, while national NGOs can participate as part of their country's delegation. ASEAN and other relevant regional inter-governmental organizations should be invited to the Conference as observers.
A limit of five delegates/country and two observers per observer country/organization was suggested. The total number of official participants at the conference should not exceed 200. For Malaysia, in additional to the five official delegates, some 100-150 persons would be able to attend as observers.
The meeting considered the cost reduction and logistical aspects of holding the Conference in English only. Some delegates highlighted the importance of enabling full participation of all countries of the region. The delegate from China indicated that he could not make any official comments on the issue of languages of the Conference at the meeting, and that he would contact his government for its instruction on this issue (no Chinese).
Australia is willing to contribute towards document preparation and speakers on the themes: A) Food safety legislation- scientific, risk-based approaches to harmonization and B) Application of risk analysis in food control- challenges and benefits or E) Food-borne disease monitoring and surveillance systems. Japan also expressed its willingness to contribute intellectually to the Conference preparation. The secretariat will approach all countries of the region to ask for their contribution of documentation.
The meeting agreed that the Conference would be held in Malaysia. The specific responsibilities of the host country need to be clearly outlined in the "Memorandum of Responsibilities" which will be prepared by the Secretariat.
Malaysia proposed to hold the meeting in Kuala Lumpur from 25 to 27 May 2004 for a three-day conference, or from 24 to 27 May 2004 for a four-day conference. The fourth day could be necessary should the meeting be held in two languages which would require translation of the draft report.
See Annex 3.
Annex 4 provides a revised budget estimate which takes into account proposals made by the participants to contain the conference cost. The Secretariat will contact potential donors to seek their support to fund the Conference.
It was emphasized that in addition to direct financial support, countries could provide (i) temporary secondment of personnel to assist with conference preparation, (ii) support through document writing, or (iii) direct support for the travel of delegates from low income countries.
Malaysia offered to provide for the printing of documents at the Conference (estimated cost US$500) and the local expenses of meeting rooms, equipment, coffee breaks, hostesses, hospitality, local transportation (not accommodations) which is estimated to cost US$65,000-70,000. Malaysia agreed to try to arrange for lower cost accommodations for Conference participants. Malaysia also offered to provide a liaison officer prior to and during the Conference, with the officer most likely located in Malaysia rather than Rome during the Conference preparations. Participants in the preparatory meeting expressed their appreciation of these offers by Malaysia.
Other countries also offered in-kind support for preparation of documentation for the Conference, as previously noted in the report.
It was recommended that middle income countries could support the travel of one or two delegates from at least one low income country of their choosing or through the arrangement of the Secretariat.
The meeting recognised the importance of prior preparation at the national level to enhance the quality of the participation of the countries at the Conference. To facilitate this, it was suggested that a circular letter be sent to FAORs/WHORs in the region to seek their active facilitation of the preparatory process (i.e. workshops/meetings). This should involve all government institutions and NGOs engaged in food safety at national level. To adequately prepare the delegates and identify Conference Room Documents that could be prepared by each country, these workshops/meetings would best be held approximately six months before the Conference, i.e. October - November 2003. FAO/WHO would likely not be able to fund such workshops/meetings; however, FAO/WHO officers travelling in the region could be encouraged to attend such events.
It was suggested that the next session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Rome, 30 June - 7 July 2003) and the preparatory meeting for the Second Global Forum (Rome, 8 July 2003) would provide a good opportunity for holding a second preparatory meeting with the permanent representatives and national food safety officials that will also be attending those meetings.
The meeting was closed at 16:40 hours on 29 April 2003.
