UGANDA/TANZANIA – Uganda’s National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), which also serves as the CCAFRICA Coordinator, has completed a four-day session of twinning and mentoring on Codex Activities between Tanzania and Uganda.
The twinning agreement’s goal is to reinforce member nations’ capacity and effectiveness in managing Codex activities, particularly with regard to chairing electronic working groups and hosting and co-hosting Codex sessions on food safety standards.
The Head of the Food and Agriculture Standards at UNBS and the Coordinator for Codex Activities in Africa, Mr. Hakim Mufumbiro, shared his extensive management and engagement in Codex matters with the officials from Tanzania Codex Office during the event.
Key issues discussed and shared during the mentorship session include use and application of key provisions in the Codex Procedural Manual, CCAFRICA coordination roles and responsibilities, Regional capacity building activities and collaboration with FAO, WHO, AU, RECs and other Partners and Communication strategy and effective engagement of members in the region.
“The training will guide Tanzania on how to deal with food safety standards at the national and regional level.”
Others were CCAFRICA work plan to support implementation of the Codex Strategic Plan (2020-2025), Generation of regional common positions and effective preparation and participation in the Executive Committee of Codex (CCEXEC) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) and Hosting and co-hosting of various Codex sessions such as the CCAFRICA.
The three Tanzanian officials, led by Mr. Lawrence Chenge (Codex Contact Point), expressed gratitude for the mentoring they received and promised to put the lessons they learned into practice once they returned to their home country in order to enhance their leadership skills and management of Codex activities.
“The training will guide Tanzania on how to deal with food safety standards at the national and regional level. It will help us harmonise as the East African region which will reduce the tension and trade barriers within the region, allowing us to trade within ourselves as the East African Community and the rest of Africa,” remarked Mrs. Patricia Bageine Ejalu, the UNBS Deputy Executive Director in charge of Standards, as she officially closed the training at the UNBS head offices in Kampala.
The Codex Trust Fund Group Project, which is being carried out by five participating Countries (Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda), provides funding for the CODEX twinning and mentorship program.
The project’s overarching goal is to create strong, solid, and sustainable national capacity to engage in Codex work.
Uganda recently hosted the 24th Codex CCAFRICA meeting which brought together over 250 representatives from 49 African nations and other international partners.
Earlier in the year, it took the CCAFRICA Coordinator title from its neighboring country Kenya which has served in the position for the past 5 years.
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