The member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) have decided to set up a core group to take up matters relating to sanitary and phytosanitary standards for agricultural and food products at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
This decision was taken unanimously at a three-day meeting of the Saarc standing group on standards, quality control and measurement held here last week. Adherence to the internationally accepted sanitary and phytosanitary standards is a pre-requisite for the export of agri-products under WTO norms. Each Saarc country will nominate at least three representatives to the proposed core group which will be headed by India. The first meeting of the group will be hosted by India.
The group will evolve a common stand to be adopted by the member countries at international meetings on sanitary and phytosanitary standards. It would also hold discussions on the issue with the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the joint body of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation, which have evolved globally recognised Codex quality standards for food products. The Codex standards are aimed at safeguarding human and animal health and ensuring fair trade practices in international transactions.
The standing group on standards was set up in 1998. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) represents India in this group. The standing group has decided to prepare a working paper for identifying products to be taken up for harmonisation on a priority basis. This is expected to boost multilateral trade in farm goods among the Saarc countries. BIS will train personnel of other Saarc countries in the ISO 9000 series of international standards. BIS director-general KM Sahni urged the group to meet more often, at least once a year, to assess the progress in the agreed areas.