WPO and UNIDO complete project in Mongolia

For the second time, as a result of a cooperation agreement with UNIDO, WPO (World Packaging Organization has completed project which goal was to help the food sector in Mongolia to achieve international standards through the development of practical guidelines, covering the production of safe food.

UNIDO was invited by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry (MOFALI) to provide a technical assistance under the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) funded Mongolia Export Development Project (EDP), focusing on strengthening certification services to enhance export competitiveness of small and medium agri-businesses.

The overall objective of the EDP is to support Mongolian small and medium size firms in the non-mining sectors to strengthen their export capabilities and expand access to export markets through improved compliance of market requirements.

This entails the need of developing food and non-food related certification services, which would be also accepted by domestic and foreign buyers. The Sustainable Food Systems Division (DTA/AGR/SFS) of the Agribusiness Department at UNIDO lead the overall EDP project implementation, monitoring and evaluation in close cooperation with other departments and divisions of the HQ and the regional office in China. WPO participated since the early stage of the project.

Although a non-resident agency in the country, UNIDO carries out its mandate in Mongolia, a member state since 1985, against the backdrop of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), and in close cooperation with the UN Country Team.

‘The UNSDCF is a result of a comprehensive, consultative process of identifying the major development priorities in the country vis-a-vis the UN’s comparative advantages. It sets the basis for the strategic scope and nature of the collective work of the UN system’s program,’ said Ali Badarneh, division chief at UNIDO Austria and responsible for the interface with WPO.

 WPO general secretary, Johannes Bergmair, added: ‘There were a few steps in the project. We started reviewing all the project related documentation and liaising with national and international experts to have a clear understanding of the project scope. The result was two guides, one to compliance for the identified actors and another to best practices for the identified actors along the value chain.’

The guides are based on Codex/CAC/RCP 1-1969 and international best practices.

‘Once again, we are very proud of the results of this new conjunction action UNIDO - WPO in Mongolia. It is gratifying to see such important documents, as the Guidelines to Facilitate Good Practices in the Food Packaging Industry, developed by a WPO expert, in this case, our general secretary, Johannes Bergmair. In addition to the guides, a training course has been recorded so that it can be used by Mongolia Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry,’ said WPO president, Luciana Pellegrino.