The government of France is donating €50,000 (US$55,824.75) to the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) to help developing and least-developed countries establish and implement sanitary and phytosanitary standards in the areas of food safety, animal health and plant health and expand their ability to gain or maintain access to international markets.
“France supports the STDF because in an increasingly globalized world it is essential that we help developing countries to build up their capacity in the health governance area in compliance with SPS standards and to become more integrated in world trade with the support of those standards,” says Permanent Representative of France Jean-Paul Thuillier.
“What is at stake is the health and safety of the people concerned as well as the generation of revenue and the creation of wealth.”
Since 2000, France has donated a total of CHF 13,686,030 (US$14,659,493.68) to World Trade Organisation (WTO) trust funds.
The STDF is a global partnership working to increase awareness, mobilize resources, strengthen collaboration, identify and disseminate good practice and provide support and funding for the development and implementation of projects that promote compliance with international SPS requirements.
Established by the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the WTO, the STDF is financed by voluntary contributions.
The WTO provides the Secretariat and manages the STDF trust fund.
