. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/121/Add.12 
28 April 2011  
 (11-2190) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures  
   
APPLICANTS FOR OBSERVER STATUS 
 
Note by the Secretariat1 
 
Addendum  
 
 
1. An application for observer status in the SPS Committee was received on 15 February 2011 
from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern  Africa (COMESA).  Information provided by 
COMESA is summarized below. 
1. Membership (19) 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights or obligations under the WTO. Burundi 
Comoros* 
Djibouti D. R. Congo Egypt Eritrea** 
Ethiopia* 
Kenya Libya* Madagascar Malawi 
Mauritius 
Rwanda Seychelles* Sudan* Swaziland 
Uganda 
Zambia Zimbabwe 
 
* WTO Observers 
** Not a WTO Member or Observer 
 
2. Mandate, Scope and Area of Work 
2. COMESA was established in 1993 as a successor to the Preferential Trade Area, which was 
created in 1982.  COMESA comprises of 19 member states with a population of 430 million.  
Thirteen of the COMESA member states are Memb ers of the WTO, and five member states have 
observer status, and only one has neither membership nor observer status in WTO. 
3. COMESA's mission is to achieve sustainable economic and social progress in all member 
states through increased co-operation and integration in a ll fields of development particularly in trade, 
customs and monetary affairs, transport, communi cation and information, technology, industry and 
energy, gender, agriculture, environment and natural resources.  
4. The specific Mission Statement of the COMESA secretariat is:  "To provide excellent 
technical services to COMESA in order to fac ilitate the region’s sustained development through 
economic integration." G/SPS/GEN/121/Add.12 
Page 2  
 
  3. Contribution to the Work of the SPS Committee 
5. In the COMESA strategy, the agricultural sect or is placed at a high priority.  One of 
COMESA's strategic objectives is to improve access by farmers to markets, as well as to promote intra-COMESA trade and the transport of foods a nd goods at reasonable cost.  In the short- to 
medium-term, the emphasis in ag riculture is on the following: 
• Adoption and implementation of the COMESA Agricultural Strategy; 
• Harmonisation on sanitary and phytosanitary measures; 
• Promotion of free trade in agricultural products; 
• Promotion of agro-industries;  and 
• Technical support, including sharing of best practices in the production and marketing or 
value-added products. 
 6. The COMESA SPS Logical Framework, which w as developed and later implemented with 
the assistance of the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), has four result areas:  
• Harmonized SPS systems through private sector-driven common certification 
schemes/protocols and regional standards for selected food and agricultural products; 
• Monitoring, surveillance, SPS diagnostic and an alytic capacity, and emergency preparedness 
programmes established for priority animal di seases, plant pests and food safety risks; 
• Improved decision making based on more rapid and transparent SPS information systems 
across member states, within and among Re gional Economic Communities, and between 
public and private sector, at nati onal and regional levels;  and 
• Improved regional leadership, coordina tion and collaboration on SPS issues. 
7. COMESA`s current activities are expected  to achieve the following results: 
• Harmonization of SPS standards; 
• Supporting member states to participate in the wo rk of international standard-setting bodies;  
• Developing laboratory infrastructure, including reference laboratories; and 
• Promoting SPS compliance on prioritized value chains. 
8. COMESA believes that taking part in th e SPS Committee meetings will position COMESA to 
better to assist and coordinate the work and the effective participation of member states in the meetings of the SPS Committee and ensure their comp liance with internationally set standards with 
the objective of protecting animal and plant health , human life and promoting safe trade within and 
beyond the region. 
4. Reciprocity 
9. The WTO Secretariat has not requested observer status in COMESA.  
10. As a regional political entity, COMESA ca nnot put certain high level documents of a 
sensitive nature in the public domain, but will read ily share information concerning all technical and 
SPS-related matters with the WTO SPS Committee secr etariat and other stakeholders upon request. 
 
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