SPEECH BY H.E. MADAM RHODA PEACE TUMUSIIME,
COMMISSIONER FOR RURAL ECONMY AND AGRICULTURE
AT THE OPENING OF THE SIXTH PANAFRICAN MEETING OF CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICERS (CVOs) ON COORDINATED POSITION ON ANIMAL HEALTH STANDARDS AT INTERNATIONAL FORA

6-7 MAY 2014, NAIROBI, KENYA

• Dr. Khadija Kassachoon, Principal Secretary, representing Hon. Felix Kosgei, Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Republic of Kenya;
• Your Excellency Ambassador Lodewijk Briet, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Kenya;
• Your Excellency , Kelbert Nkomani, Ambassador of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps in Nairobi,
• Your Excellences, Ambassadors and High Commissioners to Kenya representing the different African Union and EU Member States
• Distinguished Chief Veterinary Officers and the Delegates of the 54 African Union Member States to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE);
• Distinguished representatives of Regional Economic Communities;
• Distinguished participants from all partner organizations;
• Members of Staff of the African Union Commission;
• Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen;

It is an honor and a pleasure for me to welcome you to this celebration of the partnership between the European Union and the African Union’s Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), and the sixth Pan-African meeting of Chief Veterinary Officers (CVOs) on coordinated common positions on animal health standards.

On behalf of Her Excellency Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, allow me to convey to you her warm greetings and best wishes as well as her appreciation as follows::
• She appreciates His Excellency Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya and his Government for their hospitality to and continued support to the African Union, particularly the AU-IBAR and its programmes; and, as you heard from the statement made by the EU Ambassador, it is not the AU-IBAR only that the EU supports. There are for example also programmes in Somalia, whose support is coordinated in Nairobi. Let me also request, Madam Principal Secretary to transmit our greetings to Hon. Felix Kosgei, Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Republic of Kenya. We missed him last week in Addis Ababa during the Joint AU Conference of Ministers responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture that prepared for the AU Summit scheduled for Malabo, Equatorial Guinea that will dedicate itself to the Theme of the 2014 AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security. We had hoped that Kenya would share its experiences at the Ministerial. I will be following up with the Cabinet Secretary especially in relation to the good programme on the Lamu corridor.
• Our appreciation extends to the people of Kenya for the warm welcome they always accord us whenever we come here since our arrival in this beautiful country; and to
• The European Union, our main donor for the various programmes currently under implementation and especially the Participation of African Nations in Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standard-Setting Organisations (PANSPSO), Reinforcing Veterinary Governance in Africa (VET-GOV) Programmes, under which the continental meeting of the Chief Veterinary Officers is funded. Your Excellency Ambassador Lodewijk Briet, I thank you for your statement on this occasion.

I would particularly like to highlight our continued partnership with the EU dating back to the days of rinderpest campaigns, during which the strong bond we are witnessing today was forged. Probably with a certain level of uncertainty as to how far the bond would last, together we endured a lot of seemingly insurmountable challenges from the Joint Programme (JP15) to the Pan-African Programme for the Control of Epizootics (PACE) programme, but today we can all celebrate the successful eradication of rinderpest from the continent and many other successes that have followed in recent years, such as the successful collaboration under the Support Programme to Integrated National Action Plans for Avian and Human Influenza (SPINAP-AHI), Vaccines for the Control of Neglected Animal Diseases in Africa (VACNADA), the Livestock for livelihoods project, the VETGOV project and indeed the PANSPSO project. It is a partnership that has lasted and passed the test of time and today we celebrate it with pride as we look at its history, its current state and the bright future ahead whose foundation it has laid.

Over the years, the partnership has been realized through the many projects that have been implemented. As we look ahead, issues of food and nutritional security are becoming cardinal and a pivot of the future state of the partnership, as highlighted in the recently concluded AU-EU Summit held in April in Brussels and as elucidated under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). CAADP to Africa is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to Europe. In order for us to make the partnership even more effective and productive, it will be prudent that we crystallize it into a programmatic approach rather than the current project approach. This way we will be able to make it more sustainable and enhance its coherence and impacts on the continent as we continue to build ownership among AU Member States..

Excellences, Ambassadors, distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is of great significance that we celebrate the partnership between the African Union and the European Union at the time when we have also convened the Directors of Veterinary Services or Chief Veterinary Officers from AU Member States, for the purpose of coming up with common positions on animal health and welfare standards in preparation for the 82nd General Session of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) due later this month.

During the first meeting of Chief Veterinary Officers held at this venue in 2009, I did state that the PAN-SPSO Project which aimed at facilitating the effective participation of African countries in the activities of the OIE, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), in the formulation of international standards for terrestrial and aquatic animal health, plant health, and food safety, was the signal of the intention of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission, for improved Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) capacity of the AU Member States. In fact, as we were waiting for the beginning of this meeting, we reflected on different actions required for this sector and their critical nature that calls for greater synergies within the rural development sectors. We are all aware of the fact that SPS has increasingly become an entry point for access to international markets and compliance with international SPS standards is the only assurance for accessing highly demanding, but rewarding, markets. But also for support to intra-African trade. The PAN-SPSO project has also been a pioneer example of the implementation of project-related activities between AUC institutions and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) with the aim of strengthening technical capacities of the Member States.

As you are all aware, there is a lot of potential for the development of the livestock sector in Africa, especially through the promotion of intra and interregional trade in livestock and products, for which demand is growing annually, and we have not been able to meet this demanda; I throw the challenge to you Directors of Veterinary Services. One of the key entry points for enhancing regional and international trade is the development of coordinated policies and positions. Trade-facilitation policies, both at national and regional levels, can enormously have an important impact on the production of trade in livestock and livestock products.
Access to international markets for agricultural products requires compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures that are designed to promote fair trade and to protect human, animal or plant life or health.
It is only by taking an active part in the formulation of the relevant standards that countries can appreciate the importance of the standards and henceforth institute actions to comply or demonstrate compliance with the SPS measures.
Today we are meeting for the sixth time to develop common positions on animal health standards. I am aware that the level and the quality of participation of African delegates in the three international standard setting organizations have tremendously improved particularly in the OIE and also in Africa. AU-IBAR is working with Member States towards the implementation of an exit strategy that will ensure the continuity of activities after the end of the PAN-SPSO project.
Excellences, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, allow me once more to express our gratitude to European Union for the tremendous financial support they continue to render to our organisation and I further wish to reaffirm our commitment to the ideals of our partnership as Africa marks 2014 the AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security and as we project the livestock sector in the Africa Agenda 2063 with a vision of “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena” . And, I would like you all to contribute to this agenda as it is being debated so that we know your views on the Africa We Want.

I thank you for your attention.