G/SPS/GEN/2203  
 
27 February  2024 
(24-1805) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
  
ECOWAS IMPLEMENTED SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY ACTIVITIES  
DURING THE PERIOD OF NOVEMBER 2023  – FEBRUARY 2024  
COMMUNICATION FROM ECOWAS -USAID SENIOR SANITARY  
AND PHYTOSANITARY (SPS) STANDARDS ADVISOR  
The following communication, received on 25 February  2024, is being circulated at the request of 
the Economic Community of West African States  (ECOWAS).  
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its partners  work to imple ment 
and address SPS -related issues at regional level that contribute to the vision to create an economic 
union and common market. In line with this objective, ECOWAS is implementing many agreements 
designed to support the free movement of go ods and people throughout the region.  
1.2.  In view of improving and strengthening SPS activities in the ECOWAS and Sahel region, 
the following activities were implemented  during the period of November 2023  - February 2024 . 
2  PLANT HEALTH AND PLANT PROTECTION  
2.1  Seventh West Africa and Sahel National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) and 
Partners ' Taskforce annual meeting & Preparation of the Commission on Phytosanitary 
Measures (CPM -18) meeting, Accra, Ghana, 19 to 2 3 February 2024  
2.1.  The Regional West Africa N PPOs and Partners Taskforce was established in August 2017 in 
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso as a consultation framework to address phytosanitary related issues in 
the region. Since then, a regional action plan has been validated and implemented. In this 
framew ork, regular annual meetings have been organized to identify and address NPPOs priorities 
as well as annual Pre -CPM meetings to build consensus among countries on harmonized common 
positions to be presented at the Commission on Ph ytosanitary Measures (CPM/ IPPC), feeding into 
continental consolidated and harmonized position. Therefore, it has become necessary to sustain 
this important regional coordination, consultation and harmonization mechanism as a s tatutory 
regional meeting for decision -making and infor mation sharing instrument for a takeover of the 
region's priorities by the NPPOs.  
2.2.  The meeting aims to review West Africa and Sahel NPPOs Taskforce priorities, discuss major 
plant health and SPS trade issues, and prepare for West Africa and Sahel Member cou ntries ' common 
positions to build, to address the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM -18) agenda to be 
held from 15 to 19 April 2024, Rome, Italy. The key outcomes:  
• Major plant health and SPS trade issues in the region are shared and discussed ; 
• Regional NPPOs Taskforces and partners action plan is reviewed and 2024 priority activities 
defined ; 
• Common subjects and positions to defend during the CPM -18 meeting are discussed and  
recommendations adopted and the lead as well as alternate countries to present the adopted 
harmonized common position identified.  G/SPS/GEN/2203  
 
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  2.3.  Noting the effective participation of NPPOs and partners, a regional 2024 action plan of plant 
health issues is validated as well as the harmonized common position document on matters of 
interest f or CPM18.  
3  FOOD SAFETY  
3.1  ECOWAS participation in the 46th Commission of the Codex Alimentarius (CAC46) for 
adoption of different food safety standards, 27 November to 3 December 2023, Rome, 
Italy  
3.1.  Participation in the CAC46 with coordination of the member Stat es was implemented during 
the CAC46. Fifteen member countries participated in the CAC46 and contributed to the adoption of 
a number of standards. More information can be found in the CAC46 report (REP23/CAC, 
https://www.fao.org/fao -who-codexalimentarius/committees/cac/meetings/en/ ). 
3.2  Second coordination meeting of the regional food safety regulatory convergence and 
food safety network m eeting: information and capacity building on emerging SPS-related 
issues,  from 26 -28 February, 2024 in Accra, Ghana  
3.2.  With the launch of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA), the time has come for 
Africa regions and Regional Economic Committees, t o review their trade technical and regulatory 
instruments to prepare for their alignment to this important continental initiative. Such effort aims 
to take this opportunity to re -engage regional coordination initiatives to build countries ' capacities 
and b oost intra/inter -regional and international trade and also taking into consideration the value 
chain approach including that cover ed by the Food Security and Resilience Programme (FSRP) 
project.  
3.3.  In this framework, ECOWAS has put in place in 2022 a regional  food safety regulatory 
convergence and food safety network to revitalize the lethargic existing network of West Africa food 
safety actors. Thus, the statutes of the network were validated as well the mechanism for 
convergence of food safety regulatory mea sures amongst ECOWAS and Sahel countries. Also, during 
the convergence meeting, member countries agreed on a scope of the food safety coordination 
mechanism and have identified and validated a list of common food safety priorities for the region 
and a road map for actions in relation to Codex and SPS -related work in the region. Hence, the food 
safety priorities includ e Contaminants in Food, Pesticides Residues and Veterinary Drugs Residues, 
Microbiological Criteria and Food Hygiene and Food Additives. Becaus e of the cross -cutting nature 
of food safety matters, this regional convergence is established to improve, strengthen regional 
coordination, information sharing, cooperation and collaboration, planning, resource mobilization 
across sectors and projects.  
3.4.  So far, during the reporting period, many activities have been initiated based on the 
recommendations adopted during the July 2022 regional meeting, including:  
• The development and validation of a harmonized risk -based sanitary inspection and 
decision -making guide, 4 –6 October 2023, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire ; 
• The organization of the regional experts meeting to develop a technical and funding 
mobilization campaign document on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) 24–28 July 2023 , Abidjan 
– Côte d'Ivoire ; 
• The regional meeting on data generation for Codex work and establishment of three technical 
regional committees, 28 -30 August 2023, Lom é, Togo ; and 
• The review and compilation of the approved and used food additives . 
3.5.  The objectives of the 2nd food safety regula tory convergence meeting are to:  
• review the level of implementation of priority food safety recommendations for the region ; 
• identify capacity building needs ; 
• discuss emerging SPS related matters and food safety issues that pose a significant impact on 
the expansion of the trade in the region ; 
• Share international best practices for the coordination and management of food safety 
matters ; and 
• Validate a strategy and work plan/road map of actions for 2024 and beyond . G/SPS/GEN/2203  
 
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  4  GENERAL CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD  
4.1.  The ECOWAS Commission takes this opportunity to thank all partners for their continuing 
support in advancing SPS -related issues in the ECOWAS and Sahel sub -region, and to call for more 
collaboration, technical assistance and support for future implementation . 
 
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