Watch the recording here.
CropLife Africa Middle East (CropLife AME) recognizes the importance of trade as a catalyst for ensuring all farmers have access to agricultural inputs and can access markets internationally to trade their commodities, ultimately contributing to food security. Representing the world’s leading R&D companies1, CropLife AME works with its industry members2, industry associations, regulators, farmers’ associations, and diverse other partners to foster trade policies that promote economic prosperity and food security, while safeguarding human health and the environment.
CropLife AME supports and actively advocates for international standards based on science in line with the WTO SPS Agreement, working with governments to establish harmonized trade standards and to address non-tariff trade barriers. CropLife AME partners with international and regional organizations and other stakeholders to facilitate safe trade globally. This includes, for instance, collaboration on regional STDF projects in Africa including to support biopesticides regulatory harmonization in Southern Africa, facilitate agri-food trade in minor-use crops based on Codex standards, and promote the use of good agricultural practices in the cocoa value chain, among other activities.
This session will facilitate a dialogue on lessons from CropLife AME's engagement on partnerships to facilitate safe agri-food trade in Africa. It will focus on some specific examples such as an assessment of the adoption of pesticides harmonised guidelines in EAC Partner States, collaboration with experts for risk assessment training on both conventional and biological crop protection, and eLearning courses on topics such as Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs), Consumer Safety, and Trade.
The dialogue will address three key questions:
- How does CropLife Africa Middle East facilitate public-private partnerships for safe trade facilitation in Africa, and what have been the results?
- What factors have driven or influenced the operation and outcomes achieved by such partnerships?
- What can we learn from partnerships that have worked well (or less well) to promote and sustain more meaningful partnerships for safe trade facilitation?
Agenda (60 minutes)
| 10:00 | Opening and welcome remarks, Marlynne Hopper, Deputy Head, STDF Secretariat |
| 10:05 | Presentation by Stella Simiyu, Regulatory Affairs Director at CropLife Africa Middle East |
| 10:20 | Reflections from David Wafula, Agricultural Specialist, East African Community (EAC) |
| 10:35 | Q&A, discussion moderated by MaryLucy Oronje, STDF Developing Country Expert |
| 10.55 | Wrap-up and close, Marlynne Hopper, STDF Secretariat |