Pakistan – Afghanistan Cross Border Trade Meeting



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Pakistan – Afghanistan



Cross Border Trade Meeting

on

Fortified Wheat Flour and Edible Oils


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(Insert group photo with Secretary Health).

Workshop Report


23 – 25 May 2016

Islamabad
DISCLAIMER
This report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of GAIN and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Contents


Acronyms 3

Acknowledgement 4

Executive Summary 5

Key recommendations 6

Government and regulatory agencies 6

Industry, export and trading sectors 6

General recommendations 7

Next steps 7

Conclusions 8

Background 10

Objectives 11

Participants 12

Day 1 - Opening speeches 13

Day 1 - Presentations and discussion 16

Day 1 - Breakout session 22

Key recommendations of Working Groups 22

Day 2 - Presentations and discussion 23

Panel Remarks, Mr. Naeem Butt, Chairman, All Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), Pakistan 28

Certification Distribution and Group Photo 30

About the Organizers 31

Annex 1. Agenda 32

Annex 2. Participants List for cross border meeting 36




Acronyms


ACCI Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries

AFTA Afghanistan Flour Traders’ Association

ANSA Afghanistan National Standard Authority

CAR Central Asia region

DFID UK Department for International Development

DoH Department of Health

DoF Department of Food

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

GAIN Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

GOP Government of Pakistan

GPF GAIN Premix Facility

HR Human Resources

IDA Iron deficiency anemia

IMR Infant Mortality Rate

ISO International Organization for Standardization

KPK Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

LSFF Large Scale Food Fortification

MAIL Afghanistan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MI Micronutrient Initiative

MMR Maternal Mortality Rate

MNSHRC Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination

MoPH Ministry of Public Health

NFA National Fortification Alliance

NGO Non-governmental organization

NTD Neural tube defects

PCSIR Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

PFMA Pakistan Flour Millers Association

PND Public Nutrition Department

PSQCA Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority

PVMA Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturer Association

QA/QC Quality assurance and quality control

SDG Sustainable Development Goals

SUN Scaling up Nutrition

TDRO Trade Dispute Resolution Organization (Pakistan)

UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USDA United Stated Department of Agriculture

USI Universal Salt Iodization

WHO World Health Organization

WTO World Trade Organization

Acknowledgement


This report is the collective effort of the core organizing team led by Dr. Mohamed Mansour and comprising of Sofiya Khan, Sayed Jamaluddin Sediqi, Kishwer Durrani, Fuad Hamid, Muhammad Qavi Khan, Uzma Litaf and Ali Mohiuddin. Special thanks to Dora Panagides, GAIN Senior Program Manager, LSFF, for her invaluable reviews and comments; to Sahra Mohamed for her effective backstopping and help in preparing meeting materials; to Caroline Manus for her advice on meeting logistics and setup, and to Dr. Wahdati for his overall guidance. We thank the general staff at the GAIN Pakistan office for working long hours. We would like to extend a special thank you to Mr. Muhammad Aslam Shaheen, Chief Nutrition Section, Planning Commission, who supported the meeting from its inception. His agreement to allow Dr. Ali Ahmad Khan to help facilitate the meeting’s first day was highly appreciated, as was Dr. Ali Ahmad Khan’s facilitation and coaching of Mr. Muhammad Qavi Khan for the second day. Special thanks to Dr. Baseer Khan Achakzai, Director of Nutrition and Secretary of the National Fortification Alliance who provided support and leadership and ensured high level participation from the Pakistan government, particularly the Honorable Muhammad Ayub Sheikh, Secretary of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination.
This meeting was funded by USAID/Pakistan and USAID/Afghanistan.
Dr. Mohamed Mansour

Acting Senior Program Manager

Pakistan Regional Food Fortification Project

The Afghanistan Delegation
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Executive Summary


The Pakistan-Afghanistan Cross Border Trade Meeting on Fortified Wheat Flour and Edible Oils (Islamabad, May 23-25, 2016) aimed to facilitate and accelerate exports of adequately fortified foods wheat flour and edible oil/ghee from Pakistan to Afghanistan through engagement, dialogue, negotiations and knowledge exchange. The meeting targeted producers, exporters, traders, government and other bodies regulating production, import and export of flour and edible oil/ghee in both countries. Specific objectives included:

  • Facilitating engagement, dialogue and negotiations among key stakeholders involved in production, regulation, marketing and trade of wheat flour and edible oil/ghee between the two countries, in order to stimulate exports of fortified wheat flour and edible oil/ghee to Afghanistan.

  • Enhancing knowledge-sharing between the two countries on regulations, trade procedures, requirements, and market preferences among key trade partners.

  • Identifying and agreeing upon practical measures for quality assurance/control of exported foods, and on specifications for packaging, labeling and logo design to meet Afghan market demand and consumer preferences.

The meeting included presentations and discussions, as well as deliberations by a working group of exporters and traders of wheat flour and edible oil/ghee from both countries. The more than 80 participants (Annex 2) included:

  • Government representatives from both countries - health, food and agriculture, commerce and industry, research, science and technology, and national regulatory bodies.

  • Private sector participants from national chambers of commerce and industry, wheat flour millers, edible oil industry, trader’s associations and national premix suppliers. A representative of the Bakers’ Association of Afghanistan was also present.

  • Pakistan’s international development sector (DFID, MI, SUN Business Network).

The meeting was inaugurated by the Honorable Muhammad Ayub Sheikh, Secretary of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (MNHS & RC) and Mr. S.A. Nasir Yousofi, Deputy Head of Mission, Afghanistan Embassy. Guest speakers included Mr. Mohammad Aslam Shaheen, National SUN Business Network, and Dr. Baseer Khan Achakzai, Secretary of the National Fortification Alliance. For security reasons, USAID/Pakistan was not able to participate in the opening and deliberations of the meeting.

Day 1 began with key speeches from Pakistani and Afghan officials, followed by updates on food fortification at national and regional level from Pakistani and Afghan representatives. Five regional Pakistan health and food departments and one research and development department presented their findings. The day concluded with breakout sessions for regulatory agencies and the industry and trade sector.

Day 2 saw presentations on fortification standards and regulations and on trade policies, as well as procedures and agreements between Pakistan and Afghanistan. A high ranking official from Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce spoke about their experience in relation to trade disputes. A joint inter-country traders’ panel enabled producers, exporters and traders to exchange experiences about exporting to Afghanistan, to discuss the problems they encountered and to identify what is needed for more effective trade between the two countries.

Day 3 was organized primarily for Afghan participants, who visited a Pakistan Flour Millers Association (PFMA) mill in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and an oil/ghee factory in Noshera and Peshawar.



The major outcomes from the meeting are captured in the Recommendations and Conclusions section of this report. A section on next steps logically derived from the meeting recommendations has been prepared and added by the authors of the report.


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