By Hakim Mufumbiro, Regional Coordinator CCAFRICA

On Tuesday, 3rd May 2022 at the Tribe Hotel in Nairobi, the Codex Contact Point (CCP) Officers from Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda met to formally launch the East African Community (EAC) Codex Trust Fund Project for the five countries to pave way for implementation of priority planned activities. The group project seeks to build solid and sustainable Codex systems within the EAC Partner States.

The launch and regional workshop was held to mainly review, update and update project activities to be held at both national and regional level for the period June to September 2022 as well as rationalize the available resources and update the budget.

During the opening of the workshop, the Chief Manager, Standards Development and Trade at Kenya Bureau of Standards, Mr. Zacharia Lukorito underscored the critical importance of food safety and Codex in supporting meeting public health objectives as well as trade.

The Principal Standards Officer at the EAC Secretariat, Ms. Stella Apolot acknowledged support provided for Codex activities in the region through the EU-EAC Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP)/GIZ and pledged to provide technical support to the participating countries during the implementation of the planned project activities. 

In his remarks, the Food Safety and Quality Officer at FAO Regional Office for Africa, Dr. Blaise Ouattara appreciated the commitment of the five Countries implementing the CTF Group Project and urged delegates to build synergies within the EAC region to effectively and efficiently solve current and emerging food safety issues.

The main outcome of the workshop was the agreement to undertake between June and September 2022, five priority activities at the national level and six activities at the regional level detailed in the Project Implementation Plan. The participating countries pledged to implement the activities as planned.

To foster efficiency and effectiveness of implementation of the planned priority activities, the FAO Regional Office for Africa committed to initiate the process of availing funds to the different participating countries in May 2022 and to convene a virtual meeting of FAO country offices contact persons with the CCPs to engage on technical and administrative support functions.

As a result of the regional workshop, participating countries were encouraged to initiate a process of developing concept notes and terms of reference for the different activities in advance as well as plan to undertake national stakeholders awareness workshops on food safety and Codex leveraging on the celebrations for World Food Safety Day in June 2022.

About the Codex Trust Fund

The CTF is a development partnership located at the heart of the global Codex system and is based on a mandate given directly by all Codex Member Countries, comprising developing and transition economy countries, developed countries as well as FAO and WHO. It focuses explicitly on supporting more effective engagement of developing and transition economy countries in the Codex system, has direct entry into the national Codex systems of developing countries, in particular through national Codex Contact Points and national Codex coordinating structures and has access to the internal capacities and external networks of the Codex Secretariat and its parent organizations FAO and WHO.

Visit the CTF website