Agriculture & Food Security » Standards and Trade Issues
The 1st D-8 Agricultural Ministerial Meeting on Food Security held on 25-27 February 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, identified Standards on Trade as one of areas under agricultural cooperation. The Meeting also agreed to establish Working Group on Marine Affairs and Fisheries with the aim of harmonizing the standards of food products and will serve as a coordinating body among member states to enhance and facilitate the trade of food and agricultural commodities.
The Meeting underlined that there is a need among Member States to improve the standards to facilitate the trade that leads to the improvement of the economy of the members. This is considered to be important bearing in mind that the standards on foodstuff supply chain in the Member States may be different. Such standards may be applied to the products, quality assurance system as well as food safety. At the 2nd Agricultural Ministerial Meeting on Food Security held 16-18 May 2011 in Tehran, Iran, the Meeting adopted key strategic initiatives of the Group as follows:
- Improving trade and revenue on food and agricultural commodities among D-8 Member States via good standards and practices
- Identifying and sharing of information on standards and regulations among D-8 member countries while taking into account the output of the relevant D-8 subsidiary bodies
- Supporting every efforts of harmonizing the Halal Standards among Member States so that halal products from a member can be recognized as a halal product in other Member States
- Suggesting the development of “D-8-Labelling” on varying commodities (crops, livestock and fishery) produced in D-8-agricultural sectors to facilitate authorization and inspection related to Standards on Trade codes and conducts
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