Photo: ©FAO / Dorin Goian

Chișinau, Republic of Moldova – FAO has recently launched a new project to strengthen national food safety controls in five countries: Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, and Turkey. A meeting took place on 31 March at national level with the participation of high-level representatives from the Republic of Moldova, Turkey, and FAO.

The project aims to strengthen food safety systems with a view to improving the quality of food from farm to table and preventing unsafe food. To this end, it will help recipient countries bolster national food safety controls, improve knowledge and practical skills in this area, and increase the capacities of food business operators to reduce food safety risks.

The project, entitled “Improving national food safety systems and regional cooperation”, is financed by the Government of Turkey through the FAO–Turkey Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture, and will last for three years.

Activities will help the government meet its commitments under the Association Agreement with the European Union. Improving food safety is crucial to the Agreement and its endeavors to achieve regional trade integration.

The inception meeting in the Republic of Moldova provided opportunities for participants to exchange information and experiences and enabled all relevant partners to familiarize themselves with the project’s goals and activities.

The national inception meeting was opened by Tatiana Nistorica, State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, who explained that “the free movement of safe and healthy food is an essential aspect of the internal market and contributes substantially to the health and well-being of citizens, as well as to their social and economic interests.” She further noted that “to ensure a high level of protection of human life and health, it is necessary to implement effective policies in the field of food safety.”

Followed after Nistorica, Tudor Robu, Assistant FAO Representative in the Republic of Moldova, emphasized that food safety systems are a strategic area for the government and affirmed that “the project will contribute to the first priority area of the Country Programming Framework (2016–2022) related to increasing the competitiveness of the agrifood sector.” He explained, “FAO will implement this project to support country efforts to meet commitments related to the Association Agreement with the EU and the development of food safety standards to ensure safer food products for citizens and contribute to export development.”

In his address to the participants, Vladislav Cotici, Director-General of the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA), stated that “ANSA is very interested in working closely with FAO and benefiting from technical support aimed at strengthening official food safety controls and risk communication in the country. As the responsible authority, ANSA is open to sharing the Republic of Moldova’s experience in the field of planning official controls and organizing inspections based on risk analysis.”

Yunus Bayram, Deputy General Director of Food and Control at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey also spoke at the inception meeting, confirming, “the project will contribute to enhancing the capacities of national food safety authorities and food business actors for risk-based inspection and will play an important role in the development of effective risk management structures”.

The project meeting provided an opportunity for participants to share knowledge and experiences in the area of food safety systems, and represented a step forwards in efforts to strengthen Moldovan institutional arrangements in this field.

About the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programmes

The objectives of the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programmes are to provide support to ensure food security, rural poverty reduction and sustainable forest management; to combat desertification; and to preserve ecosystems in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and other countries of mutual interest.

Established in 2007, the first phase of the FAO Turkey Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP) has benefited from trust fund contributions totalling USD 10 million, financed by the Government of Turkey and represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. During the first phase of the programme, 28 projects were implemented in 16 countries between 2009 and 2015.

In 2014, Turkey and FAO commenced the second phase of the FTPP along with the first phase of the FAO-Turkey Forestry Partnership Programme (FTFP), with additional funding of USD 20 million, bringing Turkey’s total contribution to USD 30 million.

LINKS:

• Project strengthens food safety systems in five countries of Europe and Central Asia
• New project launched to improve Azerbaijan’s food safety system