Regional: CAM/LAO: Trade Facilitation: Improved Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Handling in Greater Mekong Subregion Trade Project

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Agricultural production - Agro-industry, marketing, and trade - Livestock

Education / Tertiary

Industry and trade / Trade and services

The GMS regional cooperation strategy and program focuses on connectivity and competitiveness. While recent investments in physical infrastructure have created new opportunities for trade, GMS governments increasingly realize that weak legal, institutional, and administrative capacities hinder the optimal use of infrastructure and are insufficient to address trade-related health hazards. A number of initiatives have been launched to overcome such constraints, including the GMS cross-border transport agreement. The midterm review of the 10-year (2002 2012) GMS strategic framework reaffirmed the importance of trade and transport facilitation initiatives, including strengthened SPS capacity and cooperation. The essential SPS issues that need to be resolved to meet the development needs of the GMS were identified and a GMS action plan for SPS arrangements, 2010-2015 was formulated.

Trade in AFF products among GMS countries amounted to $9.27 billion in 2009. This constituted about 13% of intra-GMS trade. Total GMS AFF exports grew more than fourfold from 2000 to 2009. Nevertheless, because of poor SPS management capacities, market access for a wide range of AFF products from Cambodia and the Lao PDR remains limited, both in the GMS and globally. The governments of Cambodia and the Lao PDR have not been able to protect their crops, livestock, and consumers against trade-related health hazards caused by plant pests, animal diseases, and food safety hazards. It is expected that, with better SPS systems in place, trade of AFF products from Cambodia and the Lao PDR will increase by about 10%-15% annually. Better SPS systems will also lead to reduced risk of crop, animal products losses, and reduced incidence of food-borne diseases. Effective national SPS management systems are building blocks for regional harmonization and for establishing trust among GMS countries in each other's SPS measures.

There is lack of human resource capacity to (i) undertake surveys on crop pests and diseases, (ii) manage inspections and interceptions of imported products, (iii) monitor the agricultural pesticide trade, (iv) understand the risks of forest pest spread associated with trade in wood and forest products, and (v) sustain and expand the regional trade in crop products. There is also a need to (i) contain transboundary animal diseases, (ii) improve surveillance of veterinary drugs and feed, (iii) maintain animal food product safety, and (iv) improve border clearance procedures. Information on food safety is scarce, characterized by inadequate monitoring of food, food establishments and food poisoning outbreaks. Although tourism in Cambodia and the Lao PDR is rapidly growing, it is vulnerable without adequate food safety supervision.

Compliance with global SPS requirements requires national specialists to undertake tasks related to surveillance, risk analysis, testing, diagnostics, pest identification, standards, and conformity assessment. Trading partners and private companies often require application of good agricultural practices, good manufacturing practices, and quality assurance management (such as hazard analysis critical control points). Cambodia and the Lao PDR lack specialists who can perform these tasks. These specialists need to come (in part at least) from graduates of national higher education systems that train SPS specialists. Strengthening capacities of SPS agencies is urgently needed to meet the increasing requirements for exports and trade facilitation, and to protect health.

The project is in line with the GMS 10-year strategic framework, 2012'-2022 and supports the thrust to facilitate cross-border trade and investment. The project will contribute to pillar 4 (cooperation in regional public goods) of ADB's Regional Cooperation and Integration Strategy. The project is aligned with the targets of the National Strategic Development Plan Update, 2009-2013 of Cambodia and the National Socio Economic Development Plan VII, 2011-2015 of the Lao PDR. Improving SPS management is explicitly reflected in various Cambodia and Lao PDR sector strategies and plans, and in the GMS core agriculture support program.

Trade facilitation remains a challenging agenda in the GMS. Previous experience shows the need to adopt a phased approach to formulate well-targeted and sequenced projects to ensure implementation of bilateral and regional commitments on cooperation and harmonization. Inadequate capacities at the country level are major constraints for effective regional cooperation in SPS arrangements. Development partners, such as the United Nations agencies, the World Bank and bilateral agencies support various aspects of SPS capacity building in the GMS, but ongoing projects have not addressed SPS issues in a comprehensive manner. Preparatory work has been firmly anchored in the lessons of international experiences that stress the need for prevention rather than end-of-pipe controls, which have proven to be costly and frequently ineffective. Involvement of the private sector and civil society in SPS capacity building is necessary to ensure the right technical issues and challenges are addressed and for longer-term sustainability. During the project preparation phase, workshops to consult the private sector on SPS issues were held in Cambodia and the Lao PDR, which contributed to the overall project design. Likewise, coordination with the GMS working group on agriculture has been maintained.

Strengthened surveillance and inspection programs

Improved regional cooperation and harmonization

Enhanced education levels and university training of SPS specialists

CAM-- Plant Health: 18 survey have been conducted for the priority crops; 3 Rice seed health testing (survey) have been completed; 5 Annual pesticide quality sampling and testing have been conducted.

Pest surveillance on priority crops (rice, maize, mango, cassava, citrus, banana, and pepper) has been concluded.

The pest list development (insect, weed, and fungi) for rice and maize was completed in 2015.

Pest surveillance and sample collection on mango, cassava and citrus was completed at end-2016 while similar work on banana and pepper was done at end-Q2 2017. Pest lists for all the 5 crops were finalized by engaged taxonomists by the end of the project.

LAO--Pest lists developed for 11 crops. Sixteen pest surveys have been completed for rice (2), corn (2), banana (2), cassava, watermelon, tobacco, sorghum, sacha inchi, job's tear, rubber(2), and the outbreak of locusts(2), which have resulted in the finalization of pest lists. This information has been uploaded on the IPPC website and share with regional trading partners.

CAM--Animal Health: 26 TAD outbreaks in five provinces have been responded; 12 TAD trainings for technical staff have been conducted; awareness campaigns (86 meetings) on disease and control as part of national TAD surveillance awareness activity have been conducted and benefit 35,000 farmers; as part of TAD border awareness, four awareness campaign (60 meetings) with relevant stakeholders have been completed. Four border surveillance activities have been completed, database management has been set up; and validation of protocol for analysis using Elisa screening test on drug residue has been completed.

Annual TADs surveillance program activities to establish risk-based surveillance of TADs in Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng, and Takeo were completed in January 2018. Border surveillance activities were completed as planned with 150 visits. Categorization of animal product import risks and development of risk-based standard operating procedure materials were completed in December 2017 with involvements of 80 households for biosecurity site demos in Takeo, Prey Veng, Kampong Cham, and Svay Rieng Provinces.

LAO--Animal disease outbreak response capacity has already been improved through new equipment and training under the project and can be applied nationwide to outbreaks. The department responded to two FMD outbreaks in 2015 and two in 2016.

LAO--Animal disease outbreak response capacity has already been improved through new equipment and training under the project and can be applied nationwide to outbreaks. The department responded to two FMD outbreaks in 2015 and two in 2016. These FMD outbreaks has been reported to the OIE and to counterparts in neighboring countries, which is an indication of Lao PDR's reliability in reporting such occurrences.

CAM-- 1. Surveillance on food hygiene and food safety at restaurants and canteens in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Preah Sihanouk has been completed. Out of a total of 4,028 restaurants and canteen in Cambodia (data in 2017), 2,015 have received MoH's hygiene certificates, while 265, 97, and 20 have received LOGO Certificate grade A, grade B, and grade C, respectively. Surveillance on street food in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Preah Sihanouk Provinces was completed in May 2018. In total, hundreds of street food vendors have been interviewed, and 3,329 food samples and 742 hygiene and cleanliness samples for SWAP testing have been surveyed and tested for parameters, including borax, formalin, Sodium Hydrosulfite (NaHS), Coliform, and E.Coli. A workshop to disseminate findings to relevant stakeholders will be held in July 2018. One annual food safety surveillance workshop was organized by CamControl in 2015; one remaining workshop on food safety surveillance findings was jointly held by DDF & CamControl in March 2018.

LAO-- A risk categorization framework and guideline for surveillance has been developed. The mobile laboratory has already collected 3,700 food samples to test for contaminations. The bi-annual food safety surveillance plan has been approved. Testing for salmonella, E-coli, sulphites, borax and formalin is underway in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Champasack provinces.

Checklists have been developed for three tiers of restaurants types. The pilot phase has been completed with training provided to 130 restaurants and food establishments and the scoring system trialed in 68 restaurants in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Champasack provinces.

LAO--Good progress under the Surveillance systems, included design of surveillance and sampling plans. Consultant for GMP training and auditing commenced on June 2016.

CAM-- The PMU has been established and fully staffed.

LAO--Project fully staffed and operational from 2013

CAM-- CIUs have been established and fully staffed.

LAO--8 components established and staffed

LAO--Implementation progress under this output is satisfactory. Construction of teaching facilities was completed in December 2015. Laboratory equipment were procured and installed. Users are student who comprise about 40% females.

CAM: The Royal University of Agriculture (the CIU-AE) has completed the construction of a new microbiology laboratory building, finalized the technical specifications of laboratory equipment for the new microbiology laboratory building, and completed setup of the microbiology laboratory. The CIU has also upgraded faculty laboratory and teaching facilities, and strengthened the academic skills of faculty members.

CAM: Completed.

LAO--Financial, operational and monitoring and evaluation system in place

CAM-- The CIU-AE has upgraded the SPS academic curricula. Minister of MAFF officially launched the updated four curricula for Faculty of Agricultural Science, Animal Science, Veterinary Medicine/Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and Agro-Industry in March 2016. The curricula have been integrated into the RUA program since academic year 2015-2016. As of Academic Year 2017-2017, a total students of 2,382 have benefited from the program.

LAO--Revision of curriculums for (i) bachelor or sciences in plant protection (4-year course); (ii) bachelor of veterinary public health (6-year course); and (iii) bachelor of sciences in agricultural economics and food technology (4-year course) was completed and approved by the Ministry of Education and Sports in October 2015. Training materials were also finalized. The revised curricula are being used by students this academic year. Six groups have undergone English Proficiency training, 20% are females.

CAM--One official from CamControl participated in a Regional Workshop on Development of ASEAN Food Safety Requirements for Food Contaminants from 15-16 March 2016 in Malaysia.

DDF and CamControl are a respective member of INFOSAN and ARASF, which acts as platforms for ASEAN member states to share information on food safety. In 2016, ARASF Thailand conducted ARASF Operation training for 30 CamControl staff members.

CAM-- Some notable achievements included (i) signed protocol on phytosanitary requirements for Cambodian maize exports to the PRC dated 24 September 2014 between MAFF and the PRC's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ); (ii) signed protocol on phytosanitary requirements for Cambodian milled rice and broken rice exports to the PRC dated 9 September 2016 between MAFF and the GAQSIQ; (iii) protocol on phytosanitary requirements for Cambodian banana exports to the PRC planned for signing in June/July 2018 between MAFF and the GAQSIQ; (iv) the bilateral meeting on animal health cooperation held in September 2015 between the GDAHP and its Vietnamese counterpart; (v) the bilateral meeting on animal health development cooperation held in July 2015 between the GDAHP and its Thai counterpart; and (vi) established food safety bilateral network with Thailand and Vietnam, through which DDF and CamControl officials have participated in a number of regional meetings and study tours during the project implementation period.

LAO--There have been nine bilateral working group meetings on Plant Health conducted, six with the PRC, one with Thailand and two with Vietnam to exchange pest lists and pest reports. Overall this activity is estimated to be 88% completed and is expected to be fully completed over the remaining term of the Project implementation period, assuming adequate available funds remain for these activities.

On Animal Health there have been eight bilateral working group meetings conducted, three each with Thailand and Vietnam and two with PRC to discuss and agree on TAD control measures along the borders with these countries and to improve technical collaboration and coordination with them in order to facilitate cross border trade and comply with the SPS Agreement. Overall this activity is estimated to be 76% completed with completion of 8 of the 14 meetings targeted. With limited funds for such meetings and only 8 months remaining it is expected that only 4 more meetings will be conducted in 2017, for a total of 12 of 14 meetings conducted during the implementation period of the Project.

On Food Safety, there have been six bilateral working group meetings conducted to facilitate bilateral cooperation and information sharing on surveillance activities. Overall this activity is estimated to be 81% completed with completion of 6 of the 12 meetings targeted. It is expected that only 4 more meetings will be conducted in 2017, for a total of 10 of 14 meetings conducted during the implementation period of the Project.

LAO-- There has been close co-operation with Khon Kaen University, Thailand, especially with veterinary science ever since inception of the Project. Furthermore, activities have been conducted for vocational training to involve university staff and students in applied research, surveillance, testing and diagnostics. Guest lecturers, including some from MAF, were brought into teach on special topics related to plant protection, veterinary medicine and food safety.