STDF Annual Report Highlights Efforts to Boost
SPS Capacity despite Pandemic Challenges
The latest annual report from the Standards and
Trade Development Facility (STDF), launched on 2 August, highlights the
continued efforts by developing and least developed countries to strengthening
their food safety, animal and plant health capacity despite the challenges
posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a massive impact on health systems and
caused enormous disruption to the global economy, the report notes.
Governments took measures to contain the spread of the virus, including travel
restrictions, lockdowns, social distancing, and other safety protocols.
Production and trade in agri-food products was scaled
back, resulting in huge economic losses around the world that continue to be
felt today.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the STDF adapted
quickly across all its work streams and kept delivering strong results in 2020,
making efforts to understand the new realities on the ground and continuing to
provide vital assistance to strengthen food safety, animal and plant health
systems in developing countries.
Digital opportunities and solutions to support economic recovery
and longer-term resilience against future shocks featured strongly in STDF's
project work. Strengthening SPS capacity, as a global public good, is critical
for developing countries to recover from shocks, such as COVID-19, and to
become more resilient against future outbreaks of pests and diseases.
"Trade is about people – about making their lives
better," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a video to mark the launch of the
report. "The Standards and Trade Development Facility works to enable
small-scale farmers to meet international health and safety standards for their
products. This opens the door to new markets and means higher incomes and more
jobs and economic opportunities, particularly for women. It means safer food,
lower trade times and costs, and greater capacity to protect plant and animal
health capacity.
The latest Annual Report provides snapshots of STDF-supported
projects, such as pesticide residue mitigation in Asia during COVID-19;
piloting new models for food safety standards in West Africa and Central
America; harmonizing regulations and integrating pesticide strategies in
Southern Africa; improving developing country access to the global "ePhyto" electronic phytosanitary
certificates exchange; and modernizing veterinary services through the "eVet" electronic veterinary certification programme.
Country-specific projects highlighted in the report include
enhancing trade for cocoa farmers in Papua New Guinea; strengthening Zambia’s phytosanitary capacity for plant exports; improving SPS
capacity in the Penja pepper value chain in Cameroon;
streamlining inspection, control, and surveillance of food of animal origin in
Costa Rica; and improving the safety of smoked fish in Mali.
Established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal
Health (OIE) and the WTO, the STDF is financed by voluntary contributions from
donors. The WTO houses the STDF Secretariat and manages the STDF Trust Fund.