COMESA Trade Facilitation Project

FAO support to COMESA trade facilitation programme (GCP/INT/387/COM)

Budget: USD 2,803,069 (total), USD 800,000 (phytosanitary matters) Start: December 2018 End: May 2024

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a free trade area which comprises 21 Countries (Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, D.R. Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe). More information is available on https://www.comesa.int/. The project is implemented by the COMESA Secretariat and funded by the European Union.

The FAO has set up a project to support trade facilitation within the COMESA region. The IPPC Secretariat oversees the phytosanitary component of the project, which includes the following activities:

• Creation of a regional networking platform for sharing information on plant health arising from transboundary pests and diseases; and
• Establishment of an early warning and emergency response system to facilitate collective actions in mitigating priority risks.

Outputs delivered

The project “FAO support to COMESA trade facilitation programme” was initially designed to run from 2018 to 2022. The project had undergone a no-cost extension and was completed in May 2024. The IPPC Secretariat conducted several sub-activities organized as a system and interconnected with each other to cover the overall work plan. The outstanding outputs include, but are not limited to:

Guides and Training Materials

• E-Learning course: National Reporting Obligations
• E-Learning course: Pest Risk Analysis (PRA)
• E-Learning course: Phytosanitary Export Certification System
• E-Learning course: Phytosanitary Inspection
• E-Learning course: Surveillance and pest status determination
• Guide: Emergency Preparedness: A guide for developing contingency plans for outbreaks of quarantine pests
• Guide: Prevention, preparedness and response guidelines for Fusarium Tropical Race 4 (TR4) of banana
• Guide, French translation: Establishing and Maintaining Pest Free Areas
• Guide, French translation: Surveillance Guide
• Guideline for Drafting National Regulation on Electronic Phytosanitary Certification along with the Model regulations on Electronic Phytosanitary Certification
• Model Regulations on Electronic Phytosanitary Certification
• IPPC Observatory: Survey to assess the border work flow and risk-based approach to phytosanitary import inspections including technical information technologies (IT) and infrastructural requirements in COMESA countries
• IPPC Observatory: Desk study report on assessment of risk-based border control workflow including technical IT and infrastructural requirements in five COMESA Member States

Capacity development activities

• Webinar: How to Strengthen National Legislation to Support Electronic Phytosanitary Certification in COMESA Countries
• Webinar series: Fusarium TR4 diagnostics, surveillance, inspection, and simulation exercises
• Webinar to promote the pest risk analysis and export certification eLearning courses
• Face-to-face tabletop exercises on Fusarium TR4
• Face-to-face hands-on training course on diagnostic of Fusarium TR4
• Virtual training on surveillance of Fusarium TR4
• Hands-on simulation exercise on Fusarium TR4
• Expert tutored courses for pest risk analysis and export certification e-Learning courses

The IPPC Secretariat created a dedicated International Phytosanitary Portal page for Fusarium TR4, and developed a toolbox with useful tools, resources, and templates, that are readily available ,to support countries in their Fusarium TR4 outbreak preparation, prevention, early response and management efforts . The IPPC Secretariat will continue populating this toolbox with more useful resources and tools.