FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific, Seremban, Malaysia, 24-27 May 2004
This Conference is part of a series of regional meetings that FAO and WHO are convening to meet the needs of member countries for policy guidance and capacity building in food safety. The delegates at the 13th session of the Codex Coordinating Committee for Asia (Kuala Lumpur, September 2002) recommended that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) convene a Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific in Seremban, in 2004 at the invitation of the Government of Malaysia. This recommendation is in line with the suggestion made by the participants at the first Joint FAO/WHO Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators in Marrakech, Morocco, January 2002 encouraging FAO and WHO to convene regional food safety conferences/ fora in all the regions of the world. The first such meeting was held in Budapest in February 2002 for the European region.
This Asian and Pacific Conference will work to:
- Address and facilitate discussion on issues important to all countries of the Asian and Pacific region and identify practical actions and capacity building recommendations in support of food safety;
- Identify opportunities for regional cooperation related to agriculture, agribusiness, post-harvest production, food processing, food trade, public health, and consumer protection;
- Provide a platform for broad co-operation and mutual understanding;
- Promote increased exchange of information at all levels to improve transparency and capacity building and to more effectively communicate with consumers, producers, and industries to improve food safety.