WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/951 
23 June 2009 
 (09-3079) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE (ITC) 
 
Statement at the Meeting of 22 to 24 June 2009
 
  
 The following communication, received on 22 June 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the ITC
. 
 
_______________ 
  
I. PUBLICATIONS 
1. ITC and PTB (the German National Metrolog y Institute) will jointly develop the second 
edition of the ITC publication on "Export Quality Management Book:  An answer book for small-
medium sized exporters".  The current edition of the book has questions and answers related to the 
following:  Technical regulations and standards, Product certification, Testing, Metrology, Quality 
management, ISO 9000, Other management systems, Accreditation, WTO, and ITC.  The questions 
and answers directly related to SPS issues are ra ther limited.  The second edition of the book will 
increase the number of questions and answers dea ling with SPS issues and will include questions and 
answers dealing, inter alia , with SPS measures, ISO 22000 and private standards.  The book is 
scheduled to be published next year. 
II. EXPORT QUALITY BULLETINS 
2. The ITC bulletin EQ 84 "Exporting Seafood to EU" is being translated into Arabic under a 
joint publication agreement between the Yeme ni Seafood Exporters Association (YSEA, the 
implementing agency of STDF project 69) and INFO SAMAK.  The bulletin, due to be published in 
September 2009, will be distributed to Competent Authorities and exporters in the Arab region. 
III. PROJECTS 
A. B
ANGLADESH QUALITY SUPPORT PROGRAMME  
3. ITC continues its activities in Bangladesh to  strengthen national capacity to design and 
implement sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) meas ures in accordance with the relevant WTO rights 
and obligations. 
1. ISO 22000 
4. The direct assistance to implement Food Safe ty Management Systems (FSMS) based on ISO 
22000 in six agro-processed food enterprises and hands- on training of six trainers-cum-counsellors on 
ISO 22000 is ongoing.  Review of the ISO 22000 documentation in the six enterprises and final 
recommendations to improve the FSMS will be provided in the first half of August 2009 together with G/SPS/GEN/951 
Page 2  
 
  a three-day workshop on "Implementing Food Safe ty Management Systems – ISO 22000" to be 
conducted by the trained local  Trainers-cum-Counsellors. 
2. Study tour in Thailand (TBT and SPS) 
5. A study tour was conducted for five participan ts from Bangladesh from 30 March to 4 April 
in Thailand.  The study tour provided on-the-jo b training on actual operations, and management 
techniques of SPS/TBT National Enquiry Points and also included visits to private bodies.  The 
knowledge obtained in the study t our will facilitate the implementation of the action plans for TBT 
and SPS, especially the transparency provisions rela ted to information retrieval and dissemination. 
3. Study Tour in Thailand on the value chai n in the horticulture and agro-processing 
sectors 
6. A study tour for twelve participants from Bangladesh, inter alia , from enterprises and 
exporters associations, is scheduled  to take place in Thailand from 21 to 27 June 2009.  The objective 
of the tour is to build awareness and capacity of exporters and potentia l exporters to have a 
comprehensive understanding of the value chain en suring product quality, ava ilability, consistency, 
compliance with market requirements and reduction of post-harvest losses.  Exporters from 
Bangladesh will learn from the successful horticulture exporters in Thailand a nd be provided with a 
best practice model that can be adapted and improved to successfully compete in the targeted markets.  
The Study Tour will be followed by a specific tr aining workshop and advisory services to improve 
compliance of Bangladeshi horticulture products w ith market requirements along the value chain. 
4. Workshops on "The WTO/SPS Agreement: A Business Perspective", conducted by local 
trainers 
7. The local trainers, who are customizing the ge neric ITC training material on "The WTO SPS 
Agreement: A Business Perspective" to take into account the specific situation in Bangladesh and the 
specific needs related to fisheries and horticu lture and agro-processing, will be conducting the 
following workshops
1: 
- One two-day SPS workshop on Fisheries in Chittagong (Q3 2009) 
- One two-day SPS workshop on Fisheries in Khulna (Q3 2009) 
- One two-day SPS workshop for Horticul ture/Agro Processing in Chittagong (Q3 2009) 
B. STDF  69 PROJECT : "IMPROVED CAPACITY FOR ENSURING THE QUALITY AND SAFETY OF 
YEMENI SEAFOOD PRODUCTS " 
8. ITC continues its close supervisory assistan ce to the Yemeni Seafood Exporting Association 
(YSEA).  The third progress report and project status report have been submitted to WTO on 
16 February 2009.  An extension of the durati on of the project until December 2009 has been 
approved by the last STDF WG to enable YSEA to deliver the most practicable and effective outputs 
that can be executed in the Yemeni Fishery Sector. 
9. A Workshop on "Developing an Integrated SPS and Marketing Strategy for the Fisheries 
Sector in Yemen" was organized on 22 March 09 unde r the patronage of H.E. Prime Minister and 
with the support of the Ministry of Fish Wealth (MFW).  The workshop, attended by more than 
60 participants, concluded with a very activ e and lively discussion among participants on the 
                                                      
1 These workshops, previo usly planned to take place in the second quar ter of 2009, have been 
postponed to enhance better preparation of the training material. G/SPS/GEN/951 
Page 3 
 
 
  workshop's recommendations that showed an urge nt need to strengthen the dialogue between 
stakeholders through the establishment of a Tec hnical Council with subcommittees for taking action 
and addressing technical issues faced by the sector such as quality and compliance with food safety 
requirements. 
10. YSEA participated in the 2009 European Seaf ood Exposition (ESE), from 28 to 30 April, in 
Brussels. YSEA, with the support of ITC, successfully  coordinated the participation of the association 
itself and three exporters.  The participation help ed to establish contacts with potential buyers and 
reconfirm the commitment of the private sector in Yemen to supply seafood products that are in compliance with international market requirement s.  The participation has helped in starting 
collaboration with the Vietnamese S eafood Exporters Association (VASEP). 
11. YSEA has attended the Vietnamese Seafood Exposi tion, Vietfish, in June 2009.  Thanks to 
this participation, YSEA and VASEP are curre ntly developing an MoU aimed at enhancing 
collaboration in the areas of training, technological cooperation, the developm ent of investigations, 
and technological transfer, for the benefit of both institutions and societies. 
C. C
ENTRAL ASIA (KYRGYZSTAN AND TAJIKISTAN ) 
12. The projects in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are now coming to an end.  The assistance 
provided in the area of food safety management has been successfully completed by the recent 
certification of two enterprises in the agro-processi ng sector to ISO 22000 by a foreign certification 
body, a member of the International Accreditation Fo rum, in both countries.  This was the first time 
enterprises in these countries have been certified to  ISO 22000.  Several national consultants were 
trained in both countries by an ITC international consultant and have been  equipped to carry out 
advisory services in food safety management on their own, thus ensuring sustainability. 
D. BENIN  
13. A workshop will be organized in July to inform  stakeholders in the cashew nut sector about 
issues related, to operations management, quality and packaging.  This will be followed by advisory 
visits to a selected number of enterprises.  A second workshop is scheduled in the third quarter of this 
year, after follow-up visits have been conducted in these enterprises. 
 For more information: 
Shyam K. Gujadhur, ITC Senior Adviser on Standards and Quality Management 
Tel:  +(41 22) 730 03 96 - Fax:  +(41 22) 730 05 76 - E-mail:  gujadhur@intracen.org 
Ludovica Ghizzoni, ITC Adviser on Enterprise Value Chain –Export Quality Management 
Tel:  +(41 22) 730 06 38 - Fax:  +(41 22) 730 05 76 - E-mail:  ghizzoni@intracen.org 
 Web address:  http://www.intracen.org/eqm
 
E-mail address:  quality@intracen.org  
__________