The World Trade Organization (WTO) has called on governnents all over the world to ensure food safety, noting that it is important to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking at a conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia recently, the director-general Roberto Azevêdo highlighted that food safety “is a central element of public health”.
He noted that the WTO’s rules, such as the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement and the Trade Facilitation Agreement, play a key role in ensuring food is traded safely and called on the international community to harness new technologies and information tools to support food safety and the achievement of the SDGs.
The world organisation maintained that food safety is a central element of public health and will be crucial in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
He said, “So this conference is a welcome way of highlighting this vital topic.
“The WTO is happy to be a part of it. In fact, we will be hosting the second part of this event at our headquarters in Geneva on 23-24 April: the FAO-WHO-WTO Forum on Food Safety and Trade. It will be an opportunity to explore the deeper interlinkages with trade issues.
“Trade matters because it helps lift people out of poverty. It helps economies to grow. It helps workers to find better jobs, businesses to find new markets, and consumers to access a wider range of products, with lower prices.
“The World Trade Organization underpins global trade – complemented by important regional initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“But our job isn’t just to boost trade. We must also ensure that trade works together with vital public policy and health imperatives such as food safety.
We need to maintain effective food control systems to ensure that imported food is safe.
“Consumers need to be able to trust the food that they import just as they would trust the food that is supplied domestically. Importing food helps to lower prices, particularly for goods that are consumed by the poorest in society – and they need to be confident that their food is safe.
Equally, exporters must know what the food safety standards are and be able to comply with them.
The WTO, and its range of rules and disciplines, helps us to achieve all this. The WTO’s sanitary and phytosanitary agreement is a prime example.
“Since it entered into force 24 years ago, this Agreement has made a very important contribution. It ensures that food safety requirements are based on science and that they are fit for purpose, thereby protecting public health and at the same time minimizing unnecessary trade costs and barriers. This is in everyone’s interests.
Taking full advantage of the trading system to achieve these ends requires capacity. This was recognized by the FAO, WHO and WTO, together with the OIE and the World Bank, when we came together to establish the Standards and Trade Development Facility (the STDF).”