Codex Trust Fund strengthens regional capacity in South Asia
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Guwahati, Assam, 17 October 2025
The Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) agreed at its 8th session, held 13–17 October, to forward the standard for large cardamom for adoption. The success of this work, which was chaired by Bhutan and co-chaired by Nepal and India, was a significant milestone in regional collaboration under the Codex framework. The decision further underscored the success of this joint effort and the strengthening of collective technical capacity among the participating countries.
This achievement stands as a key outcome of the group Codex Trust Fund 2 (CTF2) project involving Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Under this project, India served as the lead country, providing sustained technical guidance, training, and capacity building support to Bhutan and Nepal to strengthen their participation in Codex activities.
Through a series of workshops and hands-on training between 2019 and 2023—including leadership and risk analysis sessions—Bhutan and Nepal were able to enhance their technical capacities and institutional understanding of Codex processes.
India’s long-standing engagement with the Codex Trust Fund since 2012, as both a donor and capacity-building partner, reflects its commitment to promoting harmonized international food standards and ensuring equitable participation of low- and middle-income countries from the South Asia in the Codex standards-setting process.
Read more
CCSCH8 webpage
Codex Trust Fund
Photo © FSSAI
Members of India and Bhutan delegations including Alka Rao, Advisor FSSAI and Codex Contact Point and Dechen Wangmo, Chief, Food Quality and Safety Division, Bhutan Food and Drug Authority participating in CCSCH8 at Guwahati, Assam, India
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