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From February 27 to March 03, 2023 in Praia – Cabo Verde, all NPPOs of the 15 member States plus Chad plus Mauritania and partners met physically to review the priorities actions of the Taskforce of NPPOs of West Africa and Sahel Partners, discuss key phytosanitary and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues and

prepare the common positions of the member countries of West Africa and the Sahel, who are also contracting parties (CPs) of the IPPC on the agenda of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM-17). The next taskforce of NPPOs and partners meeting will be held in Nouakchott, Mauritania in February/March 2024.

The Regional West Africa and Sahel NPPOs and Partners Taskforce was established in August, 2017 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso as a consultation framework to address phytosanitary issues in the region. Since then, a regional action plan has been validated and implemented with the support of partners including USDA, USAID, CABI, CORAF, CILSS, FAO. In this framework, regular annual meetings have been organized to identify and address NPPOs priorities as well as annual Pre-CPM meetings to develop consensus among countries on common positions to defend at the statutory meeting of the IPPC.  

The 6th Annual Meeting of the Taskforce of West Africa and Sahel NPPOs and Partners and the Preparation of the meeting of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CMP-17), were organized with the joint support of USDA-FAS and ECOWAS in cooperation with plant protection services of the General Directorate for Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock (DGASP) of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment (MAA) of Cabo Verde. The meeting was attended by representatives of 16 West and Sahel African countries, including: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Chad and Togo. Only Sierra Leone was absent for administrative problems at the national level. Technical and financial partners also took part in this meeting, in particular: AGRHYMET, CABI, ECOWAS, CORAF, CILSS, UEMOA, AATF and USDA.

The meeting reviewed the Regional NPPO Taskforce Action Plan and assessed the progress made, challenges and corrective actions to be taken,  reviewed and discussed priority phytosanitary and SPS issues in West Africa and the Sahel, shared experiences and best practices through communications from partner institutions on information of interest to countries in the region,  discussed mechanism for sustainability financing the activities of the Taskforce, in particular with regard to the contribution of the countries, identified and adopted new intervention priorities for the region and discussed and preparation for the Commission meeting on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM-17) held at FAO headquarters in Rome Italy from 27 to 31 March 2023.  During the CPM17 meeting the impressive effective participation and excellent interventions of the NPPOs of the West 

Africa and Sahel region were noted. The next taskforce of NPPOs and partners meeting will be held in Nouakchott, Mauritania in February/March 2024.