Pakistan – Afghanistan
Cross Border Trade Meeting
on
Fortified Wheat Flour and Edible Oils
(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
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:
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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.
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Enhancing knowledge-sharing between the two countries on regulations, trade procedures, requirements, and market preferences among key trade partners.
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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:
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Government representatives from both countries - health, food and agriculture, commerce and industry, research, science and technology, and national regulatory bodies.
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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.
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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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