At the request of Hon. Hassan Houmed Ibrahim, Ministre délégué auprès du Ministre de l’Economie et des Finances, on 26 March 2019, Ms. Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva and Mr. Julio Pinto, Animal Health Officer, met with Mme Oloufa Ismaeil Abdo, Directrice de l’Office Djiboutien de la Propriété Industrielle and Mr. Fouad Adballah Mouharam, Directeur du Commerce Intérieur of Djibouti.

The Ministerial delegation of Djibouti met with several UN agencies and partners in Geneva to discuss the establishment of the Agence Djiboutienne de Normalisation et de promotion de la qualité (ADN). Djibouti is a key entry hub for Africa and wants to ensure the required international standards are met at all levels. 

Against this background, the government of Djibouti is seeking FAO’s support for the establishment of the Agency and in particular: 1) in mobilizing resources for the AND; 2) technical support to build the capacity and train the staff; and 3) the supply of technical experts to assist in the early stage of the process and equipment. Further, the delegation requested technical assistance to facilitate the implementation of the activities of the National Committee of the Codex Alimentarius. 

FAO Director congratulated the Government of Djibouti for this initiative and reaffirmed FAO’s support to accompany the country in this process as far as possible. Recalling the delegation’s indication that the FAO regional Office in Accra (Ghana) would be conducting a diagnostic, the Director said this mission will be critical to identify the needs, the priorities and the type of support that FAO can provide in the various areas. 

Ms. Rodrigues Birkett stressed that the establishment of the AND will be a long process and will require collaboration with multiple stakeholders, including bilateral partners and countries like Switzerland who have strong expertise in food safety.

Mr. Julio Pinto further informed that FAO technical assistance from Rome and Geneva includes Animal Health issues in the prevention of animal diseases affecting trade such as foot and mouth disease and peste des petits ruminants and Food Safety and Quality issues of products for human consumption. The example of e-certification is one good example of using new technologies to improve traceability and quality of animal products was provided throughout OIE standards and for Plants throughout IPPC e-phyto project.