he workshop on exit strategy for the national SPS Committee of Burkina Faso was held on 11th and 12th August 2014 at Hôtel des conférences ouind yidé in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Twenty seven members of the national SPS committee (NSPSC) of Burkina Faso and two representatives of AU-IBAR attended the workshop.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. Lucien SAWADOGO, Director of Plant Health Services.
The presentation of the national SPS committee and the legal text taken by the government to official create and organize the SPS committee was made and commented in order to bring all members on the same level of information and understanding. The next step will be the nomination of the representatives in the committee.
Presentations on standard setting processes of OIE, IPPC and Codex were made by Officers from the Veterinary services, Plant health services and the Codex contact point and an Officer from the Ministry of Trade presented WTO and the SPS Agreement. It was clear from the participants that these three national organizations have their respective responsibilities and they need to work in synergy within the national SPS committee in collaboration with the private sector, the consumers' organizations, the academia and the research institutions.
The projection of the STDF film "Trade Safely" has generated a lot of interest among participants. 10 copies of the film have been given out with private sector participants as a priority.
The presentation on the PANSPSO project's exit strategy for the sustainability of SPS activities through the NSPSC of Burkina Faso launched the discussion into groups to identify priority SPS activities to feed a work plan with a budget to implement them with the financial support of the government and the project PANSPSO for the fiscal year 2015. The proposal will be fine-tuned and presented to the various ministries for inclusion in their budget proposals for 2015. An advocacy group was established (including all private sector participants) to meet the four Ministers who signed the legal text.