Non classé

Acfta for self-sufficiency

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

The entry into force of Acfta (African Continental Free Trade Area) is announced for May 30th. Needless to say, the leaders of our countries, charged with negotiating the rules that will support the realization of this ambition, have a lot of work ahead of them. They can of course, for financial or convenience reasons, call on EU bodies to help them in this task. It is unlikely that such an approach would accelerate the establishment of the Acfta, an organization designed to help weaken the economic and commercial ties that the former colonizer has woven, for his interest, around our continent. Especially that Africa needs to go quickly in starting this project to take advantage of immediate opportunities and meet the nagging need to find work and food for its idle youth. This will at the same time help to stop the hemorrhage of the emigration of the poor on one side and the African elite as well.

In commerce as elsewhere, opportunities are rarely served on a platter. We must therefore monitor the trend of the markets and deduce the possibilities to profit from them. In this respect, the United States considers, for some reasons that it is up to them now to take a larger share of world trade. This has already been the case after the Second World War. For this purpose, the Trump Administration urges the Chinese to buy more products on more favorable terms to rebalance the US trade balance. This balance is now largely in favor of China. The Chinese are obviously rebelling to show their rejection of this order. However, in terms of trade, they do not buy as much from the Americans to have a comparable pressure lever. Moreover, the Middle Kingdom has promised dozens of African countries, and all over the world, a type of assistance or another, which requires them to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars to be at the rendezvous of their commitments. China is therefore not able to intimidate Uncle Sam by threatening to sell the dollar, which it needs, in the public square. Americans are aware of it. In one way or another, China will have to resolve, among other things, to buy more from the Americans to move towards a compromise. But what China will buy more from Americans; it will not buy it elsewhere, in Europe for example. As trade has become a science in itself, the Europeans cannot, as a consequence, sell more than before to the Chinese. In turn, the EU will probably buy less from China. If this is the case, the Europeans will have to buy elsewhere the necessary inputs for the Finished Products they sell to us, starting from raw materials bought from Africa. This will push the Chinese more towards us and will undoubtedly create more friction on our trade with the EU. In short, if our partners on the North Mediterranean shore are not very competitive on African markets today, it is more than likely that they will be even less so in the years to come. So goes the world, the fault is nobody, simply the natural selection that pushes the weakest to the margin of the globalized market. This process is apparently well underway for “old Europe”.

To return to our future trade with countries other than the EU, to which our African countries must prepare, we must show others that we have something to offer commercially to participate in these exchanges. In this respect, we must be perfectly naive to consider that the mere continuation of the sale of our Raw Materials will enable us to aspire to some development alongside other countries on the planet. We must prioritize the well-studied value-creation of our natural resources as Finished Products in order to be able to sell them advantageously on the globalized market. I am reminded of this instructive anecdote. Twenty years ago, Working for PhF Specialists, Inc. (American Audit Firm), we proceeded to the HACCP * certification of Sardisud, Fish Processing Unit based in Tan-Tan (South Moroccan). A few months later, on the occasion of an operation involving about one hundred and forty tons of canned sardines exported to the Egyptian market, Sardisud had the unpleasant surprise of seeing the goods in question blocked by the local authorities. The blockade was motivated by the wording (incomprehensible for the Egyptians), on the Sardisud Analysis Bulletin, of an analysis operation called “ABVT” for “Total Volatile Basic Nitrogen» (Criterion of indirect quality assessment of canned sardines).This name, and the technique itself, is not in common use outside our (limited) francophone environment. Other direct measures of FDA-inspired sanitary parameters are preferred over “ABVT“. The problem was finally solved (after several months) by reassuring the Egyptian authorities by sending for clarification a Bulletin of Analysis in the Anglo-Saxon terms, the most used in the globalized market. Sardisud had learned a good lesson. It is necessary to produce safe food, but in order to sell it internationally, adherence to the rules of the HACCP system as defined and codified by Codex is required. The wording of the Analysis Bulletins must also comply with these rules.

In fact, the promotion of the HACCP system has focused on the safety of the product that the system allows. There has not been enough emphasis on the contribution of HACCP to the actual production work, particularly with regard to the possibility of improving (in the sense of decreasing) the cost price of the manufactured product. Indeed, the HACCP, as recalled above, is interested in the control of the risks on the product to sell locally or in the cross-border trade. HACCP does not favor one manufacturing process over another. In other words, by comparing several manufacturing processes of a desired product, a properly trained engineer can select the process that justifies the best management of the health risks of the product and, at the same time, can make it as cheaply as possible. This type of comparison is not as difficult to make as most of the industrial food processing methods are in the public domain and accessible today through organizations such as Codex, Universities, and Institutes etc. This work of democratization of the industrial principles was largely facilitated when the American State, at the end of the seventies of the last century, put at the disposal of the private sectors processes of food production used by the US army during the World War II. Even today, many companies from different countries are using the techniques in question for the industrial transformation of consumer products.

It is difficult to say whether our Moroccan operators are benefiting from this wave of democratization of industrial principles in agribusiness. But, opportunities that our operators miss are identifiable. As an example, the case of table olives of which Morocco is a major producer of international dimension. The black olives (raw material) are washed, then dried for a few hours in an oven at 60 ° C. Afterwards, they are coated with a thin film of olive oil before being packaged under vacuum for the attention of the end consumer. This process, which is used by European operators, adds little on the cost price of the Finished Product. EU operators, as wise “middlemen”, buy olives from us, prepare them as indicated and sell them better than us to markets all over the world. The black olives of Moroccan operators, frequently heat treated (autoclaved) for export, simply cannot stand the competition, for being more expensive and to have lost much of their organoleptic interest. And how many equivalent cases of this example can be observed elsewhere in Africa?

With the goodwill of our decision-makers, the Acfta, coupled with widespread promotion of the use of HACCP, can make our continent, rich in resources and water, self-sufficient in just a few years. Of course, the self–sufficiency remains a prerequisite for the stabilization of the African population whose youth can then meet the challenge of improving the quality of life on the continent. The AEFS (Association of African Experts in Food Safety) is ready to be part of this positive logic by making our contribution where it is needed to boost the international development of our agri-food sectors.

*: Recently, this Repository was renamed HARPC (Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls) in the FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act). The health risk management approach remains the same for both systems.

Expertise/News

The hope of Acfta

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

In Addis Ababa, the African Union has just announced the entry into force of Acfta (African Continental Free Trade Area) for May 30th. This date will mark the beginning of the process of commercial and economic emancipation of our continent. But to move towards a better integration of African countries, and boost trade between all of them, much work remains to be done as discussed in this text.

In fact, intra-African trade does not exceed 15% of Africa’s total trade for the moment. And, with regard to trade with the EU, which monopolizes most of the trade of our continent, we sell them mainly our Raw Materials, often in bulk and at ridiculous prices, and we import dearly the Finished Products which derive from them. It follows that the majority of our countries, which have little to offer, have longstanding structural deficits. Curiously, among the EU countries to which we are selling our resources, the trade balance of some of them is positive only with us in Africa. In other words, without the commercial and / or economic subterfuges that these countries impose on us, they would be largely downgraded in Africa in terms of competitiveness by their competitors from Asian countries, America and elsewhere. It therefore seems that the perseverance of asymmetrical EU trade with us is only protected for the time being by certain barriers (see below) of European design. So with the Acfta starting, it is our duty as Africans to find the appropriate means to enforce the rules of healthy competition for our trade with the rest of the world to remedy this anomaly.

It is worth remembering that the subjugation of African trade to the EU’s will is not due to Hazard. They have their methods for that in the forefront of which there are the standards, or non-tariff barriers. These standards must be developed by scientific and technical personnel on objective (neutral) grounds. But the policies of agricultural Europe are appropriating them, as soon as they can, to exploit them according to convoluted protocols for the sole purpose of maximizing the profits for their countries and keeping the hand on African wealth. For example, by arguing that elaboration of standards is slow by reference bodies for international trade, where the EU acts as it pleases, European countries frequently avoid the rules of the Codex Alimentarius by creating their own standards which they impose on us through  EU methods that sometimes are esoteric. In addition, they put forward private organisms of their obedience to monitor our adherence to these dictates, which may consist, among other things, of certifications according to private repositories of their choice. They also decide how to apply these rules to their borders and who to apply them to without any possibility of independent recourse for African exporters. All of this is in defiance of established Codex rules. These methods of managing the EU’s market access are closer to commercialism than to science and objectivity. The result of this policy is that the doors to the EU market for African products open up according to administrative decisions, supposedly coming from decision-makers in Brussels, most often foreign to the field of Sanitary Safety of Food products. Unfortunately, access to the “pooled market” is at this price.

But with the launch of the Acfta, Africa is showing its willingness to free itself from the centuries-old enslavement of the EU. In this process, we must get rid of non-tariff standards that are not anchored in international regulations or that harm the interests of our countries. Looking more closely, European customers, who represent statistically 6 to 7% of the world’s consumers, come back dear for what they report to the African agriculture and agri-food sector. However, Africa has enormous potential in this area, on which the Acfta will decide to rely to take our continental destiny in hand. In this respect, to sell our goods on the globalized market, international regulations, endorsed by all the countries of the Planet, require compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) *. And these principles of the HACCP System are freely available from the Codex Alimentarius and also how to put them in place. Sometimes a buyer may request the opinion (Audit) of a third party on the HACCP System of the exporter by agreeing to share the costs. This is perfectly normal in the merchandise trade. But we are far from the unbounded demands of the EU market players.

Of course, selling raw materials in bulk or unprocessed will not allow Africa to ensure its development within a reasonable time. From the moment we have raw materials, it is recommended to transform them to give them value and sell them as Finished Products within acceptable commercial times. In this respect, the techniques relevant to the transformation (Processing) of agricultural resources exist and, for the most part, are in the public domain. In other words, these techniques are accessible via the Codex Alimentarius and other organisms. Some American Universities offer free advice on what can be done as Finished Products from Raw Materials and the “Processes” they can advise are acceptable to the official control bodies. We are also, within the AEFS (Association of African Experts in Food Safety); open to make our contribution if we are asked.

In conclusion, Acfta, which will make all African consumers available to African businesses, comes at the right time to expand all the tools currently available for the African Union, to give a new impetus to the development of our continent.

*: Recently, this Repository was renamed HARPC (Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls) in the FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act). The health risk management approach remains the same for both systems.

Expertise

HACCP genesis

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

In antiquity, the prohibition of eating or not a given product was appreciated empirically. If someone fell ill after eating a food, wisdom recommended that the food in question be avoided later. This practice was applied to decide of what is consumable from what was not to be until the end of the Middle Ages. Based on the work of Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, the Italian engineer-astronomer Galileo Galilei initiated the basics of predictive science of which the biology later on benefited from by enacting laws. It is indeed Louis Pasteur who had the merit of linking the deterioration of food to the action of microbes and, consequently, the preservation of the quality of food in the absence of these microorganisms. The observations of the great French scientist were the first premises of the recommendations summarized today in the form of Good Hygiene Practices (GHP). But, knowing that GHPs do not necessarily guarantee the destruction of pathogenic bacteria, the analysis of food in the laboratory has been made necessary to ensure more of the adequacy of products in consideration for consumption by humans. This has been defined as “sampling control“. In summary, samples taken from a manufactured batch were analyzed and the result, good or bad, was applied to the entire lot. But the statistics (which we do not discuss in this article), and the follow-up in the field, will show the inadequacy of this approach as a means of confirming the safety of the foods to be consumed. And it is by seeking to better guarantee this wholesomeness, in the case of food planned for consumption by their astronauts, that Americans, in the fifties of the last century, initiated the studies that had concluded, a few decades later, in defining the new universal control system (based on risk control) known to all by now. This is of course the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) System. Some talk about HACCP standards. International official bodies, first and foremost the Codex Alimentarius, but also the WHO, FAO, WTO, IFTO (International Federation of Tour Operators), they all recognize the HACCP System as the reference instrument to ensure the safety of commercial food. For example, in Morocco, the application of HACCP approach is prescribed in Law 28-07 on Sanitary Food Safety and the texts of its application. In practice, unfortunately, the HACCP standards are far from being implemented (correctly) at home for many considerations of which we discuss some below.

First, when it comes to how Americans do their work, it must be recognized that whenever our partners across the Atlantic have had to solve a concerning problem, both in civilian and military terms, they based the search for solutions on the specificities of their country. This applies to studies of defining the HACCP System. In this regard, US agribusiness operators, and also foreign exporters to US market they do have to comply with, have the regulatory obligation to hire qualified personnel (able to read the law in force correctly and pinpoint food hazards) before producing and / or offering a food product on the US market (or serving it to the customer), otherwise they may incur serious consequences, financial and / or penal. In this sense, the American law values ​​the obligation of result, that is to say the conformity of the product placed on the market (served to the customer) for human (or animal) consumption. On the other hand, the law allows the operator the free choice of proven methods (technology) to manufacture (prepare) the product in question. At the same time, targeted operators know that the FDA severely punishes slackness in food processing Units. In this context, HACCP* has become a cardinal reference for American professionals and, more generally, all those who food trade in this market. Indeed, the HACCP system requires that the necessary steps be taken to eliminate, or reduce to acceptable levels, the hazards that are reasonably likely to affect the product and pose a risk to the health of the potential consumer. The method to achieve this must be based on science, but the choice lies with the operator himself. Observations show that for countries with regulatory requirements equivalent to those of the FDA, Canada and Australia among others, the HACCP system has, to some extent, been adopted with due diligence. In total, HACCP is the regulatory tool of choice for managing the health risk of food for all countries that trade with the United States and they are the most numerous on the planet.

As concerning our case, as Moroccans (Africans), our trade with the US, notwithstanding the free trade agreement between our two countries, is negligible compared to EU / US trade and even compared to our export / import with the EU. As a result, our food operators, for the most part, are educated in the principles of HACCP by European consultants, mostly French. These consulting firms – which are supposed to have, each, acquired HACCP expertise in the work with the Private, which they then value with other operators in the form of Audits / Certifications by means of finance – do a great pedagogical work. We must also salute them because they take into account our working conditions. They know, for example, that only a minority of Moroccan operators in the industrial and hotel sectors are actually assisted by qualified personnel according to the regulations. But this does not preclude the desire of every operator, regardless of their status in relation to the law, to dream of a “simple and easy” upgrade to bring every one into compliance with the law currently in force with application of HACCP principles. This is indeed a far from easy problem for the consulting firms. And, in short, the consultants compete with ingenuity to reconcile the irreconcilable. In seeking, some have got back an old approach, called “5M” (Ishikawa Diagram). This generic approach, which seeks to identify the cause (s) of a problem in order to find a solution to it, does include mnemonic elements that can help to facilitate memorization of learning and, supposedly, contribute to the assimilation of the HACCP’s principles.

However, it is difficult to conclude whether approaches such as “5Ms” and similar initiatives can produce beneficial results for the proper implementation of HACCP principles. Indeed, the system is a complete (stand-alone) tool specifically designed for the rational management of the risks inherent in the manufacture (preparation) of food products (meals). In this respect, during the audit prior to a HACCP certification, the auditor / certifier endeavors to review with the operator the flow of raw materials from their purchase / receipt and storage to the preparation of Finished Products and their commercial distribution (serve the meal to the customer). The goal is to identify potential hazards at a given step to stop them before they migrate to the next stage. This approach is designed to correlate also with walking forward. It is therefore not certain that the introduction of generic modules borrowed elsewhere, the “5Ms”, the “5 keys” and the like, can bring added value to the potential of the HACCP system in diagnosing a “Process” for improving or correcting it. On the other hand, by focusing attention on these modules in question, which may be perfectly useful academically, there is the risk of diverting the operator’s attention from the HACCP substance (search for critical points) to the form side of the service not essential to the relevant management of the food risk.

Finally, the data available on the subject show that our African continent is lagging behind in the widespread application of HACCP as a tool for assessing the safety of our agricultural and agri-food resources. It seems that the time has finally come to provide our share of effort to generalize the effective adoption of HACCP for a better harmonization of standards for the benefit of our trade in the globalized market.

* : Recently, this system was renamed HARPC (Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls) in the FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act), and the use of HARPC, included in the new US law, was extended to fresh produce (vegetables and fruits) and others

News

Harmonization of standards for the benefit of Africa

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

In an article in this blog of last December – addressing the intransigence of the attitude of France, who was speaking on behalf  of the EU, about issue of trade negotiations desired by the US – we warned against the possible isolation of Paris in case where Germany, among others, was to be conciliatory on the opening of negotiations wanted by President Trump. It happens that Brussels just received, yesterday, the green light from the EU member states to start such negotiations with the US Administration to the great displeasure of France who was the only country within the UE to be opposed. More importantly, it is becoming increasingly clear that the negotiations will also seek to harmonize standards for agricultural products, something President Trump is very keen on, to find a solution. In this regard, the assumption of the establishment, on both sides, of bodies to validate the conformity of products exported / imported to the EU / US, to mutually defined standards, will help undoubtedly to the de-dramatization of the (currently unresolved) conflict over non-tariff barriers between the US and the EU. That would be a relief for us too here in Africa.

Indeed, the dilemma (dealt with in other articles of this blog), of non-tariff barriers, of which the EU standards for agricultural products are a colossal part, has been hindering for decades the trading of African products of the agriculture sector. Given their complexity (and politicization), it is unlikely that these barriers will fall in a short time. But, with regard to Africa’s exchanges with other external countries, any rapprochement between the US and the EU on this subject would be good to take. In one way or another, this will positively contribute to export opportunities for our continent’s agricultural resources to other promising markets without (formally) offending EU officials.

In a very schematic and very succinct way, we would say that European countries have developed, over the course of colonization, an “obsessive possessive syndrome” towards Africa, and this syndrome is unfortunately the most apparent in our French friends. Without excusing that, perhaps we could try and understand it as, most likely, the Americans did. The US must have deducted that France keeps in its files important cards that support its relations with its former colonies and that attempts to “uproot” Paris would be much more expensive in effort, money and time than to try to work in intelligence with her to no longer be excluded from trade with West African zone. But France, and this is the problem, is so ticklish on her prerogatives on our countries, that considers her pre-square, that she has cared little to prepare the ground in the optic of collaborating with other countries, even the Americans themselves. So, the talks, which President Trump insists on launching immediately with Brussels, could be an opportunity for us Africans to play the Samaritans in the litigation over the norms that oppose American and European for almost thirty years.

First, the facts, and opinion polls, show that European companies are increasingly behind compared to companies from other continents. The whole world is aware of the persistent stagnation of the EU market. Thus, if the ECB (European Central Bank) have difficulties to find a taker for its offer of zero interest credit, it is because European operators are running out of ideas on how to beat their international competitors on, in particular, the African market. Our European friends, in disarray, are therefore in need of reassurance. We should tell them, for example, that we will not let them down to the extent that our goods delivered to them be used for their own needs and not for speculative operations behind our backs.

Then there is the language. French, judged as a European expression, is a beautiful language. It is less spoken than Spanish on a global scale but is a great tool for exchange between the countries of West Africa. As we know, this region is a priority for Morocco in terms of trade and French will therefore be useful for us. Of course, the mastery of English is essential for insertion into the world today. But, Shakespeare’s language is fortunate to have its own tools to be appreciated, especially by the younger generation, through the internet, social networks, games and other entertainment channels. English is also easier to access than French via the indicated sources. In short, we should consider French as an additional wealth and not as a disadvantage for our openness to Africa. Moreover, the statistics show that if almost everyone practices French in Morocco as a second language, millions of Moroccans speak English and / or Spanish. In this case, we can serve as a link between American investors who want to come to us and the French already installed and who do not master English.

Of course, the question of non-tariff standards remains. On this subject, it is worth remembering that the Americans and the Chinese have been working for months to bring their points of view about the commercial relations that concern them. Standards are one topic among others. Indeed, not China or the other Asian countries, or South America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Gulf countries or others are in  conflict with the FDA standards (American standards for food). This is a comfortable majority of countries on the planet working according to harmonized standards. However, this fact has never prevented a country or another from resorting to safeguard clauses to protect its interests, which the International Codex Regulations provide for in a timely manner. According to this approach, the dialogue between partners and / or commercial adversaries can take place in relatively serene conditions without overbidding or “Principles of precaution” open on all the possible interpretations and their opposite.

All in all, if the negotiations between the US and the EU take place according to the wish of the overwhelming majority of the countries committed to it, as is already happening between China and the US, we, Africans, will begin trading our agricultural products with everyone without exclusive. Africa is waiting for this moment for a long time.

News

Useful French legacy to Morocco

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

At the beginning of my graduate studies in Lausanne, in the early seventies, I, like other students, used to work during the university holidays to earn some pocket money. The work in hotel business was very profitable for us. You could be housed, fed, have a fixed salary and glean tips. In two months of summer work in a five-star hotel, it was possible to earn enough to cope with up to six months of school expenses! But the work was tough because you had to be able to do everything and remain polite: As a bellboy already taking the bags, open the elevator to customer, do the small shopping, but do also the vacuuming and waxing shoes left by the guests in front of their rooms etc. Sometimes, in case of massive arrival of customers, or departure, we also had to help make the beds. We had to be available, if needed, day and night. A whole weekend break was extremely rare. But in all of this, a work was forbidden to us as temporary personnel, the one which touches the preparation and the service of the food. This work fell under the law and required qualified persons in a regulatory manner. The prospect of food poisoning was indeed a real nightmare for the hotelier restaurateur. In fifteen years of stay in Switzerland, I do not have the memory of such a catastrophe in the sector in question. Hence, probably, the good reputation of this Swiss service sector continues to this day. Moreover, many Swiss professionals work in this sector in Morocco and are highly appreciated and not only in catering.

But sometimes it is necessary to know how to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Few countries have worked the art of the table, the reception and the pleasures of gastronomy as the French did. So, In Hollywood films, from the beginning of the last century, the Chief Cook of a Palace often bears a French name, a kind of natural tribute to France’s efforts in this area. But, and this is understandable, this profession must always be exercised in the rules of hygiene and food safety so that the pleasure of meals is not tainted by any deviation from the norms susceptible of causing health problems. Pasteur‘s work began in France and the French are proud to set an example. To date, France remains the country that attracts the most tourists in the world and, as we know, tourists come back because, in particular, we took care of their meals!

There is no doubt that the French have left us, in Morocco and elsewhere in Africa, a good legacy in this area. Thirty years ago, I was among guests on a Sunday at the Mohammedia Yacht Club. Buffets of dozens of dishes, as enticing as each other, were arranged on a large stone bench in the restaurant-club. One of the guests had this reflection that the credit goes to the French to highlight our dishes this way. The chief cook, whose mother held this position before him, had at the same time the talents of an artist. The eye was feasting, then the stomach and digestion was doing well. Those who liked the drinks were also well served. Thus, the French are holders of this know-how, transmitted empirically for centuries, of which they remain great artists.

Moreover, the activity of the Hospitality was defined as service to the customer before the forties. The launch in the US, after the war, of hotel chains designed to serve the same day tens of thousands of meals (of the same types) has led to redefinition of the work as an industrial activity at the same level as the conventional industrial Units of food processing. Among the consequences of this redefinition, it has become possible for American consumers to introduce class actions on behalf of victims of Collective Food Poisoning. As examples have shown in America, a “Class Action” against an operator may mean the end of its activity. The Europeans then followed in the footsteps of the Americans and several countries have adapted their legislation to allow such class actions. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before this is the case also at home. Under these conditions, the taking of insurance against these risks has become unavoidable for the American players of the hotel industry and will become the case progressively elsewhere. This is particularly the case for operators wishing to work with major contractors such as Tour Operators. In addition, insurers, whose business is to hedge risks, cover themselves first by requiring certification that the institution to be insured performs the work according to the rules. After the International Federation of Tour Operators, which regularly sends the largest number of customers to Hotels, has recognized HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) as a reference standard for the assessment of the quality of work for the preparation of meals; insurers have become accustomed to requesting a valid HACCP certificate before establishing insurance (my records).

France has indeed left Morocco a positive legacy in terms of practices in hotel and catering. But where France receives a hundred million visitors a year from all over the world, we barely receive the ten percent mainly from our neighbors in the northern Mediterranean. A lot of way remains to be done to honor the potential that our country has for the hotel and restaurant sector. It is probably for this reason that Morocco adopted the law 80-14 to support the necessary change in our tourism and accommodation sector that is increasingly globalized. Once the texts of application, under review, will be promulgated, we will then have the same instruments as our other partners, or competitors, to boost the activity of the sector.

Finally, the dozens of articles in this blog are often very critical of the work, which may leave something to be desired, of managers in different compartments of our agribusiness sector. But, as they say, there is the exception that confirms the rule. In this context, just for once, this article would also like to pay tribute to the FNIH (National Federation of Hotel Industry) and their hard work, conducted patiently and nationally, to educate operators on the importance of the application of the rules of hygiene and sanitary safety of food for the well-being of employees and customers. Encouraged by Mr. Lahcen Zelmat, President, the General Manager, Mr. Abdelaziz Samim, a great professional, does a superb job with his team among them a specialist in communication, Mr. Aziz Laktebi. The cross-regional seminar campaign for professionals of the sector is continuing in a sustained way, proof that the mentioned leaders are working twice as hard to save time and ensuring that our operators will be as quickly as possible catching up with our competitors. Then, Morocco operators will be receiving clients at conditions equivalent or superior than what they can have in other countries with touristic vocation as ours.

That is an example to follow for other leaders of other organizations in charge of the promotion of other sectors of activities of our country.

Non classé

Reshaping of the Africa / Middle East Region

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

The Moroccan Government has recently adopted the draft law on the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF), paving the way for its ratification by the parliament. In this context, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, current President of the Commission of the African Union (AU), considers the entry into force of the “ZLECAF” in the weeks to come. However, while the agreement itself is good news for Africa, which is expected to speak with a robust voice for the 54 countries in the upcoming international negotiations, the President may have been too optimistic about short period of time for entry into force of the agreement. Indeed, for this protocol to be consumed, the acceding states have the obligation to review any previous agreements they have concluded with other countries (the EU is particularly targeted) to make them comply with the terms of the protocol of the “ZLECAF”.

In the circumstances, Morocco is still negotiating, since 2013, a comprehensive and thorough free trade agreement with the EU whose main goal is to push Morocco in fulfilling UE food standards. In the end, this will be tantamount to restricting the possibilities of diversifying our international export outside continental Europe, for example to the US market with which we have signed a clear and clean free-trade agreement but maintained under refrigeration for nothing. Europe has also established, in the case of each of our interested African states, as well as for other countries throughout the world, more or less similar memoranda of understanding for trading with UE market. These numerous protocols, which the EU usually sign on to third parties in position of strength, most often support very asymmetrical trade, favoring Europeans to the detriment of other contracting countries. Under these conditions, for improving such bilateral agreements already signed with the EU and in force, to make them in accordance with the terms of the “ZLECAF” protocol, we should be focusing in correcting, for the countries of our continent, the asymmetry which characterizes such agreements. In other words, these protocols should be made a little more balanced by furthering African signatory countries. But one may have doubts about the chances of success of such an attempt and be skeptical about the acceptance of Europeans to gracefully adhere to the possible process of rectifying the agreements in question in this spirit. It is therefore more than likely, in our opinion, that the Europeans will seek (in substance) to hinder the process of “ZLECAF” by any means at their disposal, including bribing of leaders, blackmailing, corruption, using the CFA Franc leverage, visas, procrastination, denigration, “Fake News” and so on.

On another level, it is worth pointing out that the approach aimed at eliminating or reducing the asymmetry of trade between the EU and our countries on the south side of the Mediterranean can only be seriously considered if there is a radical overhaul of the specific EU standards which are, beyond protectionism itself, the Cerberus knowingly posed to control access to the Community market. The task is all the more difficult as EU officials tend to interpret any attempt to modifying (even backed by strong scientific arguments) of their standards as mean of weakening of their international status. On this level, even if we do not accept this dogmatic position of the EU, we understand it better if we take into consideration the fact that the EU is increasingly forced into the role of an immense mercantile structure. The origin of the downgrading of the EU’s status from the position of a set of major industrial and innovation nations to a large trading structure is to be found largely in the “side effects” of implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Initially, the CAP was launched to cover Europe’s food needs. But very quickly, the European Caciques saw the benefits to be drawn to perpetuate the stranglehold of Europe on African wealth. They then initiated the rewarding of European farmers (mostly French) according to their production. This system quickly resulted in an abundance of food supply and propelled France to the leading role in shaping the European agricultural strategy that feeds the CAP. Abundance then became superabundance, opportunely deviated to satisfy desires of African “elites”. At the same time, it was suggested and / or asked of these “elites” to make sure maintaining   the status quo of relations established with the EU. France, also in this case, will have had the leading roles in this strategy. Many solid testimonies support these facts. But for the past decade, the CAP, from which France has made better profits, more than any other EU country, can no longer afford to be so squandering. As a result, the French farmers, and by extension the entire social fabric of the country, who have been accustomed to receiving EU aid without counting, for simply to carrying out their work at their own pace and totally ignoring the competitive aspect of trading, are now under severe strain. For the first time, the operators concerned need to reason in terms of competitiveness in an increasingly competitive global environment, which they have not been able to do for a long time. This explains the French President’s statements at last week’s Paris Agricultural Show, where he argued that “today’s agricultural Europe is under threat from the outside“, that there is needing to “reinvent” the CAP so to revalue the income of French farmers who are indeed in great distress. What the President of the Republic is trying to do is, in short, a quiet appeal for EU subsidies. At the same time, the EU is preparing to lose, with Brexit, a big net contributor to the CAP. The statements by the French President can therefore be understood as an invitation directed towards the Germans for a greater contribution to the CAP. But German officials have repeatedly confirmed their refusal to put more money in this program. The result is the disaster that has settled in the French agricultural and agri-food sector. That, perhaps, explains the greater sensitivity (aggressiveness) of the French for everything that touches the “European” agricultural sector. In the past, this issue has contributed significantly to the failure of the Doha Round negotiations in the WTO and blocked the way for Turkey’s acceptance into the EU.

On the other hand, it is now thirty years since the Europeans introduced the Euro with great enthusiasm and they had, at that time, many reasons to be optimistic. But after that, one has the impression that the Gods are beating on the whole of Europe. There were all these series of health problems of the nineties (mad cow, dioxins etc.). Then there were great tensions with the Americans following the Iraq war, which left traces until today. After that, there was the fall of the big investment bank Lehman Brothers, which at the same time was a sort of favored entry point for German businessmen in the US market. As a consequence of these problems, and “Dieselgate” and others, the EU has lost most of its benchmarks to, inter alia; maintain its trade privileges with the Middle East. In the same vein, the Gulf monarchies have largely curtailed their traditional investments in Europe. There was also the loss of the Russian market for agricultural and agri-food products, of which Turkey recovered a good part. There is now the announced exit of the UK (Brexit) from the common market etc. But out of all of this, the “good African” guys are still here doing business to European satisfaction. The EU has been careful to “commandeer”, by means of tailor-made standards, the products of the African agricultural sector for the benefit of many wheeler-dealers. They do what they want with our raw products to use them directly or to value them (transform) and resell them in other international markets with capital gains for their own profit. For this, they use any means of propaganda to promote the “supremacy” of the EU standards in question on the rest of the world. In this respect, the Americans have so far refrained from openly criticizing the European standards in question. Of course, they defended their position against these EU norms before the WTO and gained their cause. But, this attitude is changing now. Indeed, in last days, the US ambassador to the UK, Mr. Woody Johnson, has compared the agricultural know-how of the EU to practices frozen in a sort of museum of agricultural history blocking any effort of innovation and that some of their standards come under philosophy rather than science! This confirms, if need be, the end of American neutrality in the face of the EU campaign for the “supremacy” of its standards.

The message of the American ambassador can also be interpreted as an appeal to us Africans that exporting to US market has been greatly simplified. It is enough to set up a Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls (HARPC) system, an “instrument” whose acquisition is perfectly free and largely sufficient for the FDA. HARPC is the latest (enhanced) version of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), which all operators are now familiar with. We then win in time, money and we eliminate the useless businessmen.

In the end, there is no doubt that the remodeling of the forces of influence in our great region of Africa / Middle East is largely under way.

Expertise/News

Erosion of the EU

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

After having reigned for centuries on the slave trade, than established the policy of African colonization that the old continent has subsequently wrapped with concept of cooperation, Europe has huddled, after the last Great War, under the US nuclear umbrella for the duration of the Cold War. Then, lacking raw materials to compete with the big countries such as China, USA, Russia and others, Europe has launched the establishment of the single market and did take care of controlling its access with specific standards imposed on African operators. The objective, which has become evident in recent times, has been to place the African sector concerned under the EU’s dictates. This ploy played well for the European colonizer until the end of the cold war. But it has stopped working well today by revealing innumerable weaknesses.

As a result, the EU does not stop moaning over its fate. She is angry at the whole world, but first and foremost at President Trump who took away the American support that the EU took for granted indefinitely. Officials at the top of the EU structure, who increasingly take up the ways of the former Soviet Union, say they do not understand why Trump America is fighting them. President Trump is criticized for withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, for the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, for abandoning the nuclear deal with Russia and for placing unjustified customs duties on European steel, to name a few of the most commonly cited recriminations. The EU Group is advancing, as far as it is concerned, that it does no harm to anyone, that the Group is there to serve multilateralism, disseminate democratic principles and help peace and security in the world. This argument is likely to make the American President appear as a troublemaker kid in a playground and, so, may please Brussels, of course. Only it is too beautiful and too simplistic to resist rational reasoning.

In terms of trade, the current US administration is also engaged in a tussle with China. But, while the meetings follow one another with the Middle Kingdom and that the resolution of the problems progresses in the opinion of both partners, this is absolutely not the case with the EU where the discussions seem to be severely seized. While German-speaking countries seem flexible to find a comprehensive solution with the Trump administration on tariff and non-tariff barriers (standards), France alone does not want to hear of a discussion for a compromise on agriculture and agri-food. If there is not an official opponent of this uncompromising French position in the EU, and at the same time absurd in terms of common sense, other countries of the Union have not missed to criticize it with words covered on many occasions. France seems strengthened in its dogmatism by the sacrosanct principle that the commercial policy is decided by the Commission of the EU, after consensus. But behind this loophole, France considers above all that agricultural and agri-food standards, largely from its inspiration, which it inflicts on behalf of the EU to African operators, also serve the interests of the other countries of the Union. And, we can count on the genius of the metropolis to remind them of this fact in timely meetings.

That being said, the European press recently echoes the dramatic turn that US-EU trade relations could take in the coming days if President Trump decides to tax 25% of imports of European motor vehicles, i.e. German cars. German builders are up against the possibility of additional taxation of their vehicles that would surely bring Germany into recession if President Trump decided to implement this measure in the coming weeks. They are putting pressure on their government to push France to bend its rigid (anti-scientific) position on agri-food standards. Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the EU Commission, said that if this was the case (US taxation of EU vehicles), the Europeans would not import US liquefied gas or Soy. With regard to liquefied gas, a whole port infrastructure must be put in place beforehand in Europe – which will take years – before any importation of US liquefied gas. In the case of Soybeans, which are intended primarily for livestock, it is mainly a question of price which will be the limiting factor, and this problem is a matter for the private sector rather than the Commission. In sum, these arguments should not weigh heavily in the expected decision of the US administration on future taxes on German cars. It is therefore up to the Germans, the largest economic power in the EU, to decide whether aligning their position with the interests of the “Françeafrique” is more useful for their business than maintaining the leading position in high-end automotive sales in the US market. As for France, which must feel the ground shirking beneath her feet at the prospect of a lack of German support for its causes, she apparently chose the haggling card. She announces that she will go it alone and initiate a heavy taxation of GAFA et al. (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) with, supposedly, hope to bring back Trump to better feelings about the non-tariff barriers of the EU. But this is unlikely at the time the US administration began to apply anti-dumping taxes (litigation is brought to the WTO) on products of the European agri-food sector in response to more than generous aid from the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and also against the tightness of the EU market for agricultural products. It should be noted that the CAP bears a great responsibility on the stagnation of investment in the African agro-industrial sector which correlates perfectly with the many problems of malnutrition and the scourge of emigration of young Africans fleeing misery on our continent. Moreover, the country of Voltaire must feel good alone now that even countries of the EU, Italy among others, severely criticize its policy on our continent as the main source of mass migrations of hungry African youth.

As we all know, France was not the only Empire to colonize Africa. There were also the British. But, Her Majesty’s subjects were forced to beg the IMF for help in the 1970s, just like the poor countries, which gave a good lesson to the English. They accepted their fate, effectively lobbied the Americans for the consolidation of the City of London as a big financial center after New York, and kept a cool head while keeping their currency, the pound sterling, which has no pretensions to compete the Dollar. The EU, driven by an excessive French ambition, taking advantage of a moment of weakness before German reunification, has pushed the plug too far in wanting to maintain an unlimited and exclusive access of the EU to African wealth, wishing to continue to benefiting gracefully from American protection and, icing on the cake, having ambition to replace the Dollar by the Euro. Butter and butter money in short. So, coming to play now on the fiber of victimization is far from correct on the part of EU officials, to say the least. It even amounts to insulting the intelligence of people and taking Africans for more naive than they have been.

In this regard, a USAID official who spent many years among us said to me, twenty years ago, that Morocco, which already exported more than three quarters of its agri-food products to France, will know to be competitive once it will confront a real market. This remark can be applied to most African countries. In these circumstances, the foreseeable elimination of the standards imposed on us by the EU is only the beginning of a work that promises to be very laborious for us. But also think of how much we will be rewarded in terms of self-confidence and pecuniary resources.

Expertise/News

African exports at Brexit time

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

Thalidomide, a drug (teratogen) of German origin sold in the 1950s and early 1960s, caused one of the most serious tragedies that the health industry has inflicted on thousands of patients and their offspring throughout the world. Except in the United States where the drug did not receive marketing authorization. Indeed, the FDA regulations in force, at the time already, require tests on drug substances that have been found to be insufficient in the case of this molecule. Similarly, the food safety component of the FDA regulation was equally robust and many of its prescriptions, the most common of which relates to the sterilization scale for destroying botulism bacteria, were duplicated by many countries in the world. This regulation, which made it possible to eradicate the series of fatal intoxications of botulism which the USA suffered in the sixties, is known under LACF for Low Acid Canned Food. Since then, new plagues have emerged, such as allergies and others. As a result, the new US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), recently implemented, goes even further. It broke new ground by including, for the first time, a codification of the safety control of fresh fruit and vegetables. The FSMA has also extended Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) to control risks to hazards arising from allergies, environmental hazards or working conditions, or intentionally caused by humans (terrorism). These risks must now be managed by the new Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls (HARPC) system. The US thinks, and this is legitimate, that the FSMA will be the reference for working in agribusiness for decades to come. They intend to publicize the merits of this new regulation as part of the control of imported products for the US market through FDA regional offices that they intend to install around the world. Africa should host one of these regional offices. The free trade agreement linking us to the US makes Morocco a good candidate to host such a domiciliation.

Before the Americans, the English had, until the last Great War, played a pioneering role in the development, in particular, of standards for food products and health products. The English standards have been used as a basis for setting standards for the ISO family. The American and British regulations were then close to each other. But the two countries’ standards for food products began to distance each other as Britain built its integration into the EU. Now that the British are preparing to separate from the continental European market, they will have to redefine their regulatory positions to EU and US standards. If they choose to keep the EU standards, that means, as far as the food trade is concerned, maintaining the regulatory logic they currently apply. This logic leads EU officials to tell that 70% of the products consumed by the British come from the European market. In fact, many of the products in question, including fruits and vegetables, come from our African continent. By the way, the Russians were in this situation a few years ago and bought our products (Moroccan for example) via European intermediaries. Following the dispute with the EU over the Ukrainian case, they opted to buy directly from us for what they bought from European intermediaries. Our direct sales to the Russian market then exploded from a few hundred million dollars to more than three billion in less than three years. Thus, by eliminating opportunistic intermediaries, Russian importers and Moroccan exporters both earn, some saving on purchase prices and others by receiving a better price on the same products. It’s a safe bet that the English will also choose this type of win / win approach by trading, especially, directly with our Continent, including our West Africa region. Brexit will then have the effect of further boosting the African export of our agri-food sectors.

That being so, it is unlikely, after the departure of the English, that the countries that will remain in the EU Bloc will change in any way the rules they impose on us on very asymmetric trade. Indeed, against highly protectionist and discriminatory practices, which have given a hard time to Americans who have solid standards and laws, we are very poor on our continent to stand up to them or question the rules of trade that they make us suffer. Among the reasons is that, as a de facto colonizer, the EU Bloc authorities have put in place a system that favors dialogue with our African governments and denigrates the expertise of the private sector. Their long experience accumulated on our Continent instructs them on the inefficiency of our public authorities which results in very slow changes of our societies. Also, it amounts de facto to an indefinite extension of the status quo which better arranges the continuity of their business. It’s a kind of trap that’s hard to get out of, but not impossible.

In this connection, several years ago (my archives), I had to give my expert opinion on a dispute between a client and a large European multinational. The client was not strong against the large group and, moreover, the multinational disregarded our judicial system and its auxiliaries (experts) like me. So, it was difficult to have a dialogue in those conditions. The client was then studying the possibility of communicating on the matter with the press and I agreed that, in such a case, I will give my own opinion on the dispute. The news was felt by the leader of the group in question in Morocco as a cold shower. He then took the trouble to engage in dialogue and seek a compromise. It seems that the prospect of bad publicity is scarier to these people than a court decision.

In this respect, the data (see elsewhere in this blog) show that our agri-food export operations to the European market are dependent on a multitude of barriers that UE consultancy firms (there are consultancy firms for each EU country in Morocco) promise to find solution for it for a fee. But, these private firms are working to open the EU market in front of our operators by privileging the dialogue with our states authorities on agribusiness field and denigrate royally any local private expertise. On the other hand, in the sense of our imports, the expertise of these private Cabinets is received like words of prophets as well by our importers as by our authorities. So, I wonder what would happen if, on our side, we began to treat these people as they treat us, that is to say, “denigration for denigration”. In this context, over thirty-five years of activity in Casablanca, there are examples in my archives of malpractices of number of EU exporters whose operations have been certified by consultancy firms we are talking about. This deserves reflection.

Expertise/News

America is finally interested in Africa

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) – a new food safety law, recently implemented in the US – introduced Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Control (HARPC) as a new standard for assessing food products compliance to the health requirements set by the new US regulations. For the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has been driving the innovation of global control in the agribusiness sector for more than a century, the HARPC now takes precedence over the “classic” HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). Recall, following the implementation of HACCP by the Codex Alimentarius in the nineties of the last century, the lexicon “Françeafrique” had quickly found equivalent wording « Analyse des Dangers – Points Critiques pour leur Maîtrise ». But this kind of anagram unfortunately found no taker and fell into oblivion. By persevering, the Franco-European logic had found an alternative formulation by launching the ISO 22000, which represents a sort of city dress of the HACCP, and they hastened to declare it as an innovative instrument of European origin. It is unclear whether at the moment Prestige Europe is preparing to wrap the HARPC with any “ISO 22000 bis” to claim the instrument as its own.

The type of appropriation mentioned above – by reformulation or “copy / paste” or other form – of creations made elsewhere and then claimed by the EU trade bloc, is made possible thanks, in particular, to a Franco-German complicity well structured. In this context, the careful observation shows that France and Germany complement each other, and are cooperating, so far, in the spirit of partnership and mutual understanding in many areas. Thus, the Germans, who represent one and a half times the French population, but who live on an area barely above 50% of the French territory, have long shown a deep appeal for everything related to French agri-food, relatively less industrialized than at home and therefore supposed to be closer to nature. For this reason, and others of a political and commercial nature, and given the weight of Germany in Europe, France is playing a leading role in EU policy for the agri-food sector. Also, considering the French colonial past on our Continent, this role is particularly preponderant for the EU’s relationship with Africa. In these conditions, if Europe remains unquestionably the first partner of our continent to buy us agricultural raw materials and sell us the finished products that result, the lion’s share on this very asymmetrical trade go to France for what concern North and West Africa. This partly explains the relentlessness of France, as the EU’s leading figure in the agri-food sector, to treat HACCP as a mere teaching of work and to consider ISO 22000 as a regulatory standard in Europe, made unavoidable for the export of any product from the African agri-food sector to the EU. Moreover, this standard imposed on us, instead of HACCP, is administered more than 95% by European structures. In the end, a lot of money and valuable information are going from Africa into the pockets and drawers of European organizations themselves imposed on the Continent by the EU trade group.

However, this dominance of the EU Consortium on African agri-food trade with the outside, which has lasted for centuries, has never been closer to its decline than it is now. Indeed, John Bolton’s statements from Thursday before the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, where he hammered out “Africa is incredibly important to the United States….If we didn’t understand it before, the competition posed by China and Russia and others should highlight it for us, which is why I do think this is a potential turning point in American understanding of what’s at stake for us — not just for Africa — but for the United States in African affairs.”, constitute an unpublished first. The latter, US National Security Advisor and close associate of President Donald Trump, has solemnly confirmed a historic turning point in the relationship that the Americans have maintained so far with our Continent. Indeed, since the end of the last Great War, American interests over Africa, including the policy of containment of Soviet influence on the continent, were co-managed or simply delegated to European countries, France part of it. But, following the saying, “Well-ordered Charity begins with oneself“, and after seventy years, the result is there in the form, for example, of a French omnipresence in the affairs of that region of Africa then that the USA shines by their absence. As a corollary of this aspect of things, most of the innovations and other types of progress, appearing elsewhere in the world, are quickly reformulated and / or reconditioned at the level of EU countries before being presented francophonically to us as creations “made in EU “. The case of HACCP dressed in ISO 22000 is eloquent in this respect (see here).

On this subject, while the HACCP – a repository that has cost the Americans tens of years of research and refinement and that the FDA has distributed to everyone free of charge – has become in the last decades the stallion of choice to measure the quality of work in the agri-food sector around the world, it is largely snubbed in the EU for the benefit of ISO 22000. And, above all, this “duplicate” of HACCP that does not say its name, which remains a for-profit instrument above all, imposed in spite of them on African exporters to the EU to the detriment of HACCP, reveals the degree of laziness (synonymous with income economy) that the EU trade group has chosen for depriving Africans of their modest gains on raw agricultural resources. The icing on the cake for Europeans, ISO 22000 served at the same time to lock the markets of our African agricultural raw materials for the benefit of the EU Consortium. So, in this context, the temptation may be strong for the Prestigious Europe to redo the same type of scenario with the HARPC and initiate a Bis Repetita. Except that this time, the US will to approach Africa is crystalline and US officials are determined to build a direct relationship of cooperation with us African without a European intermediary. First of all, as the Americans have repeatedly said so without success with the European agri-food authorities, standards underlying trade must be based on scientific criteria. If Europe of Prestige refuses this approach by taking shelter behind the leitmotiv “Principle of precaution“, it is interesting to realize that the message was understood on this side of the Mediterranean and American white and red meat has already been given the green light by our authorities to be distributed locally while waiting to progressively reach other African markets. Nice competition in perspective with the meat products of the EU and the best wins.

That said, there is no need to dramatize because the reputation of products of the French agri-food sector, built on generations of know-how, should suffer no hazard. The products in question, many of which are in niche markets, have strong advocates and protectors. But the problem takes another dimension when France plays the flag-bearer of the EU to get in the way of the progress of US agri-food know-how around the world, starting with Africa. Recall that this savoir-faire, which was lacking to the Third Reich, was a major element for the victory of the Allies in the Second World War by feeding millions of soldiers around the world. Also after the war, the US savoir-faire helped, in particular, a good part of the European population who in this way escaped the famine. So, by getting in the way of US interests in the agri-food sector, all in all legitimate, France runs the risk of a backlash. Indeed, its unconditional alignment on the positions of countries of Germanic obedience, while these latters stay themselves behind on the subject, can give it unpleasant surprises. As in the past, it is likely that when choosing between US practices and those of France, the neighbors of the Gauls opt for the American know-how which would be a disappointment doubled punishment. Germany and the other German-speaking countries will surely choose America and, with regard to punishment, Trump has given a glimpse of his reaction by reminding the French recently that without the intervention of Uncle Sam during the Second World War, France would be speaking German instead of surfing the “Françeafrique”.

But let the EU and the US do their job and let us ask ourselves if, as Africans, we have any chance to improve our foreign trade thanks to the FSMA. The answer, in our opinion, is affirmative. The FDA has largely facilitated the administrative procedures for the access of our goods to the US market. For example, there is no intermediary to pay (for exporting) if you can introduce your own manufacturing process on the dedicated FDA portal. But it remains true that most of our operators are not aware of the merit of these facilities for access to the US market. It is therefore up to our association AEFS (African Experts of Food Safety) to make the necessary effort to sensitize African operators on these possibilities. Much wok ahead.

News

The long agony of the EU

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

In the case of a terminally ill person, there is often a consensus to let him go in peace. But finding someone who agrees, say, to stop artificial ventilation is much more complicated. This is what is happening now in the case of the wobbly grouping that is the European Union.

In this respect, since the implementation of this community, the winner financially is Germany thanks, in particular, to a highly surplus trade balance with the other countries in the EU. In short, it has simply destroyed the competitiveness of Latin countries that can no longer defend themselves by devaluing a currency they no longer control. At the same time, Germany has banned itself, by law, to solidarity with the EU countries in difficulty by lending their own money.

The scaffolding on which the EU was built may not be solid but it is opportunistic. To remain competitive with the Americans and Chinese in particular, who have what they need as raw materials on their own soil, the Europeans “had to” keep at their feet the riches of Africa. Since the last Great War, the French have served, in Africa, vassal to the Germans to defend their “mutual interests”, in the exploitation of our agricultural wealth in particular. This intimate cooperation, on which we know a lot, will have been the foundation on which African dependence on the EU has been built. To accentuate the dependence of African products on the EU market, the Machiavellian strategy put in place has been, among other things, to produce a logorrhea of ​​”strictly European” standards covering everything that Africa produces. Moreover, the Bloc reserves the right to punish any entity, or country that derogates from the standards in question. Nobody is fooled, but the reasons that compel African nations to adhere to that Dogma combine factors such as corruption, the CFA franc, government officials acquired or bought to the cause of the French, see simply a condition of windfall economy in which the metropolis confined African elites.

Yes, but seen from another angle, the EU has in fact arrogated to itself the right to put African trade under supervision for its benefit. The Europeans are not stupid to this point of not realizing that their game is simply grotesque and that it cannot last. It must also be recognized that after centuries of slavery, plunder and squandering of African goods that do not belong to them, it must be very difficult to stop on the way. This attitude is related to some form of severe addiction, such as a drug whose withdrawal is treated in psychiatric hospitals. Because in the end, they will have to, the French above all, relearn to work according to their own abilities and to earn their daily bread sweat of their brow. Unfortunately, the Europeans only know these things in the works of the middle Ages.

But as we all know now, countries around the world are interested in trading with Africa. The advantage of trade is that it produces short-term results, which is of utmost interest to French and European companies in the first place. On the contrary, they no longer appear, and can no longer be, very interested in large structuring investments that produce effects after decades and aim to enhance the quality of African service that colonial empires have always wanted to avoid. Now, countries that take the risk of investing in expensive infrastructure are also interested in trading in the short term. But what to do when people who hold the place cling to their privileges. The Chinese first, but the Americans too, are perplexed. On another side, the Europeans make discrete requests, for, say France-China-Africa triangular cooperation that China has already refused, probably for having seen it without interest. For America, it’s different. So far, they have relied on Europe, mainly Germany, to market their industrial products in Africa. The representatives in the continent are French given their “knowledge of the field”. It is possible that the Europeans, those quoted in any case, expect America to offer them to redefine their triangular cooperation on Africa, built since the Cold War and which is now running out of steam. But President Trump has already largely declined his way of reasoning. What he can do for himself, he is not ready to pay a penny to do it by someone else.

In fact, Europe has been a problem for Americans for decades, in the sense that our neighbors to the north want to be given importance individually, consulting them one by one, and same time, give importance to their hegemonic, albeit shaky, instrument, which is the EU. In short, it is the squaring of the circle to which Americans have “adapted” before the advent of Mr. Donald Trump. There was not a week going by without some officials of European countries making the Washington trip, often followed by visits of officials EU. Their presence across the Atlantic offered them a box of international resonance with, implicitly, the blessing of Washington. It was enough for them, what they excel at, to assert this “privilege” on an international scale. Too bad that President Trump has made them orphan of this advantage. So, we no longer hear the “European” voices that have been bursting the screens before in a recurring way. In this register there is the absence (very occasional appearances) noted of the friendly Federica Mogherini with the pompous title of “High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy“. But Ms. Mogherini is not to be pitied being  handsomely paid in Euro, which currency, unlike the rest of the world, is the most used at home in Africa and whose profits go to the EU Grouping as a savings economy on a whole continent.

Now, the Americans have, in turn, bent over the primacy of science in the eventual redefinition of standards of use, including the agricultural sector, between them and the Europeans. The latter are resorting to contortions of language not to address the discussion of standards with Americans. In itself, it is an admission of weakness that Americans are well aware of. The saying goes that one who has just one day to live can be considered dead. You know, maybe President Trump just applies this maxim in anticipation of the fall of the European empire.