By John Oppong-Otoo, Food Safety Officer at AU-IBAR and Hakim Mufumbiro, Regional Coordinator CCAFRICA

Nineteen Member States of the African Union (AU) (Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea Equatorial, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo) met between 4 and 6 July 2022 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, as part of an initiative to enhance Codex work management within the Member States on the continent.

The regional workshop was held to undertake an assessment of the status of operation and performance of Codex Contact Points and National Codex Committees of the North, Central and West African Regions, as well as facilitating peer-to-peer learning, networking and development of a model national Codex structure for managing Codex activities in AU Member States.

During the opening of the workshop, the Minister of Health of Burkina Faso, Robert Lucien Jean Claude Kargougou, commented on the importance of ensuring effective functional systems within Member States in order to ensure safe food products. He further echoed the relevance of sharing and exchanging ideas and experiences to achieve common objectives.

The Senior Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Standards Advisor of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, Benoit Gnonlonfin, underscored the timeliness of the regional workshop as it supports building a stronger network on food safety and Codex matters within the three regions.

The coordinator for the Codex Coordinating Committee for Africa (CCAFRICA), Hakim Mufumbiro, highlighted the need for Member States in the region to enhance their effective participation in food safety and Codex activities while taking advantage of available resources provided through the Codex Trust Fund to build strong, solid and sustainable national Codex systems.

On behalf of the Agricultural Director of the African Union – InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), Hiver Boussini, Senior Animal Health Officer at AU-IBAR, emphasized the importance of Codex standards on the continent in spurring intra-African trade as envisaged in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

The main outcome of the workshop was the adoption of a model national Codex structure by the Member States from the three regions. Member States were encouraged to:

• strengthen or establish their national Codex structures using the adopted model to intensify sensitization and awareness of experts, policymakers and all relevant stakeholders on the importance of Codex activities;
• enhance participation in Electronic Working Groups; and
• deploy the use of various bilateral and multilateral approaches to shape and influence decisions in Codex.

The workshop recommended that CCAFRICA, the AU Commission (AUC) and Regional Economic Communities coordinate mentorship/twinning programmes and exchange visits between the Member States in Africa to build capacities and enhance Codex work management, engage and tailor capacity building support for the specific Member States with low participation in Codex work and plan a regional training event on the preparation of project documents for proposed regional standards.

Members pledged to enhance coordination of Codex activities at the national level as well as share knowledge with other national stakeholders.

The regional Codex work management workshop was supported by AU-IBAR, which is the AUC’s Codex Contact Point, as well as United States Department of Agriculture and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation.

About AU-IBAR

The African Union – InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) provides leadership in the development of animal resources for Africa. By supporting and empowering the African Union (AU) Member States and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), AU-IBAR's vision is that of an Africa free from hunger and poverty in which animal resources make a significant contribution within the global arena. AU-IBAR's mandate covers all aspects of animal resources, including livestock, fisheries and wildlife, across the entire African continent.