Ethiopia hosts a meeting on COMESA reference laboratory scheme

Addis Ababa, September 6, 2022 (FBC) – Kasahun Gofe, State minister for trade integration and export promotion sector at the minisetry of Trade and regional integration opened the meeting with speech at capital hotel.

As the state minister stated on his speech, technical standards and SPS capacity support trade in food and agricultural products by ensuring food safety, animal and plant health are not jeopardized. It also protects natural resources based on which agricultural production and trade depends and therefore contributes to food security.

The lack of adequate diagnostic and analytical capacities for animal and plant disease and pests, food and feed safety risks among member states, weakens monitoring and availability of quality data on which to base equivalence agreements, Kassahun said.

This often translates into unintended trade barriers and constraint with implications for intra-and inter-regional trade and the welfare of our people in an increasing inter-dependent and globalized world Kasahun added.

“Within this context, COMESA through council initiated policy interventions aimed at putting in place systemic structures to address these challenges.”

The COMESA reference laboratory scheme has seen great interest from the continental structures and has been incorporated as a key component in the AU Sanitary Phytosanitary, food safety and plant health strategies.

The Government of Ethiopia has invested over US 110 million in the sector for buildings and equipment comprising the Ethiopian standard agency, the national metrology institute, the Ethiopian conformity assessment enterprise, food safety laboratory and other related infrastructure projects, it is indicated on the occasion.