Seeking for Potential Bilateral Cooperation between the IPPC and the WB

On 29 June 2017, the IPPC Delegate led by the IPPC Secretary Jingyuan Xia and including Craig Fedchock and Shane Sela, met with the World Bank (WB) team composed of Klaus Tilmes, Director of Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice, Jose Guilherme Reis, Practice Manager of Trade, and William Gain, Global Product Specialist for Trade Facilitation & Border Management. The discussion was focused on the possible cooperation of the IPPC with the WB in the areas of improving border agency collaboration, advancing trade facilitation, and promoting electronic certification and relevant issues in SPS diagnostics.

There was a general consensus that the timing is excellent for cooperation and collaboration between the IPPC and the World Bank in view of the recent ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). There was also agreement that the World Bank s organizational skills could be used as a catalyst for bringing all three SPS standard setting organizations (Three Sisters) together to enhance border agency collaboration in the context of implementing the TFA in selected areas of the world. The World Bank was particularly keen to engage with IPPC phytosanitary capacity evaluation experts as they work to ensure the obligations of the TFA are being met.

The World Bank and the IPPC are already working together on electronic certification efforts in Samoa and Sri Lanka.. As these two countries are also countries selected for the IPPC ePhyto pilot project, the World Bank and IPPC are engaging with NPPOs to advance evaluation of current work flows and the adjustments required to implement the IPPC ePhyto to better risk manage plant product imports using advanced information and data analysis. This opportunity to work together should serve to provide a preview of single window and ePhyto integration in other countries as the two systems become more prevalent.