Luanda - The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rui de Oliveira, reaffirmed Monday in Luanda the government's commitment to increasing domestic production and guaranteeing its quality, with the aim of ensuring food safety in the country.
He was speaking at the opening of the 8th Forum of Food Safety and Economic Activities Inspectors (FISAAE) of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).
According to Rui de Oliveira, the aim is to implement an economic environment that favours free enterprise and fair competition between economic operators, in order to establish a fair price for widely consumed foodstuffs.
He also said that the aim of the forum is to promote the adoption of best practices and harmonisation of actions in the sector, ‘technical-expert’ identification in food and economic inspection, as well as to promote the sharing of experience in the creation of laws, frameworks and legal interpretation.
Preventing emerging risks and training staff are among the objectives of the event, which is taking place in the country's capital until the 20th of this month, under the slogan ‘Food fraud - risk factors and control and prevention measures’.
During his speech, he spoke of the transformations in the social, economic, technological and geopolitical spheres, which pose challenges for countries ranging from the disruption of logistics chains, protectionist policies in international trade, the application of artificial intelligence (AI), the massification of e-commerce, among other factors.
‘This platform should continue to reflect on events with a high impact on the economy and food security, both locally and globally,’ he said, adding that the event's motto reflects the concern of the Angolan government and the other members of the CPLP to define common strategies in response to the emerging problem.
In turn, the president of FISAAE, Maria Freitas, emphasised the importance of the event, stressing the need to find the best ways to carry out inspections and controls, as well as mitigating the risks to consumers and food fraud.
During the forum, Angola will be elected president of the FISAAE, with the prevention of food fraud as its main focus, given the rise of e-commerce.
The 8th CPLP FISAAE Forum, organised by ANIESA, will spend three days analysing topics such as ‘the role of sector associations in interacting with inspection authorities’ and ‘good practices in preventing food fraud’, as well as hosting two seminars on food safety. ASS/VC/DAN/DOJ
