Vietnam attends SPS Committee meeting on food safety and animal and plant health
VOV.VN - The 92nd annual meeting of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee) opened on June 18 at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The meeting gathered representatives from 166 WTO members, including the Vietnamese delegation led by Dr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
At the thematic session, delegates discussed how to deal with the risks associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through SPS measures in international trade. This session followed up on recommendations in the SPS Agreement Review Report, allowing the SPS Committee to continue its discussions and reflect on objectives for carrying out the SPS Agreement amid emerging challenges and opportunities, while also building on the SPS Work Programme Declaration adopted at MC12.
During the official session, delegates reviewed a report by the WTO Secretariat on regular notifications in the goods sector (G/C/W/859), and discussed proposals to improve the quality and timeliness of notifications. They also exchanged views on 59 specific trade concerns, including four new ones.
On the sidelines of the SPS Committee meeting, the Vietnamese delegation held bilateral meetings with several WTO members. In particular, they met with representatives of the Chinese Mission in Geneva and China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) to assess the CIFER system under Regulation 248, aiming to ensure uninterrupted export of Vietnamese agri-food products to China and avoid congestion at border checkpoints in the near future.
The Vietnamese delegation also held a working session with representatives of the Japanese Mission, requesting information on SPS measures to support the export of Vietnamese instant noodles containing beef products to Japan.
In addition, it met bilaterally with representatives of the US and UK missions to clarify several matters related to the draft Circular amending Clause 1, Section II, Appendix XII of Circular No. 25/2016/TT-BNNPTNT on quarantine of terrestrial animals and animal products.
Vietnam highlights science-driven food safety on World Food Safety Day
The National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS), with support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the World Health Organisation (WHO), hosted a forum in Hanoi on June 7 to celebrate World Food Safety Day under the theme “Food Safety: Science in Action”.
