MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES, HON. LAAULI LEUATEA POLATAIVAO FOSI’S OPENING REMARKS AT THE E-PHYTO TRAINING FOR EXPORTERS

SAMOA, December 7 - Lau Susuga le Failotu, Toleafoa Daryl Elisaia

Mr Peter Neimanis, ePHYTO Consultant

Ilaisa Dakaica, SPC ePHYTO Regional Coordinator

Mr Alipate Aloisio, PACER Plus Trade and Investment Advisor

Exporters,

The Private Sector,

Distinguished Quests

Ladies and Gentleman.

Talofa lava.

It gives me great pleasure to extend a warm welcome to you all this morning to the ‘Electronic Phytosanitary Certification System (Ephyto)’ workshop for exporters, an important activity to foster opportunities in using technology to exchange phytosanitary certificates through a safe and secure platform.

Samoa is one of the first countries in the Pacific region selected by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) to pilot ePHYTO with the potential of implementing a Generic ePHYTO National System (GeNS) to exchange phytosanitary certificates. The implementation of GeNS in Samoa will replace the issuing of Phytosanitary certificates in the paper form by relying instead on electronic means that will not only be more efficient and convenient but ensure the added benefit of significantly reducing the creation of fraudulent certificates.

The use of GeNS for Phytosanitary exchange aligns with the Trade Facilitation Support Program (TFSP) managed by the World Bank to support the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) agreed upon by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The adoption of GeNS creates opportunities for Samoa and other countries in the Pacific region to exchange Phytosanitary certificates in a more friendly environment.

The Ministry has been working in collaboration with Pete Neimanis and Ilaisa Dakaica through funding support from the PACER Plus and SPC to improve the capacity and key capabilities of Samoa to manage the GeNS by providing technical advice, training, workshops and making necessary changes to business processes. I’m happy to say that Samoa went on live with the ephyto system in 2019. We now issue phytosanitary certificates electronically to Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Fiji, France, South Korea, USA, Sri Lanka and have similarly received electronic certificates from Fiji, New Zealand, and USA. We look forward for other Pacific Island States to join the GeNS system soon. This promotes opportunities to improve bilateral trade in the Asia/Pacfic region and other parts of the world. It will advance trade efficiency by reducing costs associated with bi-lateral negotiations and reduce fraudulent certificates. The ephyto system will improve trade thereby improving incomes, creating more employment opportunities and thereby enhancing economic development for the participating countries.

As the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, I would like to see more efforts undertaken to strengthen the linkages between our exporters and regulators in our Ministry in order to move forward and take ownership of this system to benefit the export operation and certification at the most efficacy and efficient way possible of doing business.

This is why your presence today is so very important. The success of your workshop will mean that exporters will have enhance capabilities to use the ephyto system as a more valuable and cost-effective option than phytosanitary certificates in the paper form.

In this regard, I am very delighted to acknowledge on behalf of the Ministry of Agricultrue and Fisheries, our appreciation to PACER Plus and SPC for all your continued support and collaboration to facilitate safe trade. It is extremely important that we work together because it paves the way to a promising future for trade between Samoa and other countries. It is a light at the end of the tunnel for many of our Samoan exporters who are looking for opportunities to reduce red tapes and fraudulent certificates.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a fruitful discussion today, and I do hope that the outcomes from the training will enhance your skills and provide lessons that will not only stimulate the growth in your export and farming operations, but also help enhance Samoa’s presence in the international market place.

Your government and Samoa look forward to the outcomes of your training today.

Soifua ma ia manuia!