CLDP, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the International Trade Administration, and the American National Standards Institute, hosted the inaugural meeting of the Standards/SPS Working Groups on November 18-20, 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey. 21participants included customs, sanitary inspection, food safety, animal and plant health, and standards and metrology officials from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The Standards/SPS Working Groups aim to further the goals of regional economic integration and trade facilitation in Central Asia and Afghanistan, as espoused by the U.S. government inter-agency New Silk Road initiative and the U.S.-Central Asia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). The Working Groups also serves as a platform for the participants to discuss SPS- and standards-related impediments to trade in the region, and the SPS and standards policy and regulatory infrastructure in each participating country.

The countries participating in the workshop found it fruitful to discuss their association as Standards Working Group and SPS Working Group, and established the parameters for future meetings by preparing a draft Memorandum of Understanding for each subject area group to be taken back to their respective countries for consideration and signature.

During the workshop, the Working Groups developed knowledge of the rights and obligations contained in the WTO SPS and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) agreements; the U.S. experience in meeting these obligations; and the roles of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Codex Alimentarius, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), and their subordinate bodies in addressing trade barriers.