The ATF’s main objective is to provide high level advice and guidance to LAS, AIDMO and AOAD for the enhancement of coordination and harmonization of food safety conformity assessment and food control systems. This includes the concurrence on food safety standards and associated compulsory guidance by food control and inspection bodies in the Arab states, with the aim to mitigate or prevent health risks and to enhance food safety risk management at the regional level.
The first ATF meeting was successfully held on 22-23 March 2016 insa Cairo, Egypt, within the framework of the Food Safety Regional Project, a project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International development agency (Sida) and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in partnership with the League of Arab States (LAS) and its specialized organizations the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) and the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD).
This meeting was the inaugural meeting of the ATF and aimed at introducing proposed terms of reference of the Taskforce and at enabling discussions of impediments to intra-regional trade that can be attributed to discrepancies in food safety measures, as well as priority areas on which the project and the ATF should focus their attention.
