International cooperation of the National Center of Expertise

The Republic of Kazakhstan was the Chairman of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Europe of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (hereinafter referred to as CCEURO) in the period from 2017 to 2022. CCEURO has 52 members - 51 country and 1 Member Organization - the European Union.

On the basis of the RSE on the REM "National Center of Expertise" of the Committee of Sanitary and Epidemiological Control of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan, there was established Codex Alimentarius Group, which acted as CCEURO Chairperson and Secretariat.

The main mission of Kazakhstan was to consolidate the countries of the post-Soviet space in the work of the Codex, capacity building, promote the interests of the European region within the framework of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

The 30th, 31st and 32nd sessions of CCEURO were held under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan.

Cooperation has been established and actively continues with the regional offices of FAO, WHO and the WOAH Sub-regional Office for Central Asia.

National Center of Expertise is actively engaged in cooperation with the following international partners:

World Health Organization (WHO)

National Center of Expertise (hereinafter – Center) is constantly involved by WHO in interagency cooperation in the framework of the implementation of the International Health Regulations and the Global Health Program in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Since 2020, laboratory specialists have been regularly trained in WHO programs such as Quality management systems, Food safety, Bacteriology, Antibiotic and microbial resistance and other relevant topics. Furthermore, cooperation is carried out within the framework of the WHO the Global Laboratory Leadership Program (GLLP) which involves training in biosafety and biosecurity, international regulations for the transportation of infectious substances, disposal of medical waste, biological risk management and other relevant topics.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

In October 2021, within the framework of the grant project "Building and Strengthening Public Health Impact, Systems, Capacity and Security" there were held trainings and seminars in Biosafety and biosecurity, implementation of Quality Management System, Antimicrobial resistance and other relevant issues with the participation of internationally recognized experts.

In 2021, the virology laboratory of the Center was equipped with laboratory equipment for the purpose of automation of PCR testing.

With the support of the CDC, all medical laboratories of 16 branches of the Center received official recognition of the current Quality Management System and received accreditation certificates according to ST RK ISO 15189-2015, that confirms provision of consumers with high-quality laboratory studies as well as the reliability of their results.

RIKILT Institute of Food safety (Kingdom of the Netherlands)

In food safety and the environment, the Center cooperates with the Netherlands Agency for Food Safety and Consumer Products Rikilt (Wageningen Food Safety Research). Laboratory specialists of the Center received training onsite in the Netherlands. Additionally, in 2019 Rikilt experts organized training for local branch of the Center in Astana.

AID Genomics (Israel)

In 2021, Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the National Center of Expertise and the Israeli company AID Genomics, which is engaged in the study of molecular diagnostics and specializes in the diagnosis and therapy of cancer and infectious diseases. As part of the memorandum, a new laboratory complex was installed on the basis of the branch of the Center in Shymkent in order to increase the laboratory capacity for diagnosing COVID-19, reduce the duration of laboratory testing and increase the level of reliability of the results.

BIOR (Latvia)

In 2021, as part of the implementation of the goals of the Center to fully cover the Technical Regulations of the EAEU by 2025, Memorandum of Cooperation was signed with the Latvian Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment BIOR, that has wide experience in food safety research and is the coordinating center of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA). Within the framework of this Memorandum, there are planned advisory and training activities specifically designed to meet local needs. There is also planned scientific cooperation in the field of environmental studies.

Other foreign research institutions

In order to strengthen laboratories to ensure the availability of high-quality laboratory diagnostics in all key processes of detecting, evaluating, responding, notifying and monitoring events in the field of public health, the Center also fosters cooperation with the following research institutions:

FBIS "Moscow Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology" of Rospotrebnadzor (training of specialists of sanitary and hygienic laboratories on HLC, antimicrobial resistance, etc.)
L.V. Gromashevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases (NAMS of Ukraine);
Institute of Genetics and Cytology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (Minsk, Belarus);
National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food (Ljubljana, Slovenia);
FBIS "State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector";
FBIS "Federal Hygienic and Epidemiological Center" of Rospotrebnadzor (training on residual antibiotics in food products, bacteriology and other topics).

International organizations in food safety

As a result of cooperation with the Asian Development Bank, the National Center of Expertise developed a roadmap for training specialists and assisting food enterprises in managing food safety and introducing a system based on HACCP principles at food facilities. According to the roadmap, a number of trainings were held to train experts (Training of Trainers – TOT) of the Center with the involvement of international experts, the Atameken National Chamber, interested state bodies and organizations. NCE employees conduct training seminars on the implementation of the HACCP system for all interested food enterprises.
On the basis of the Center, there functions Codex contact structure of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which carries out work within the framework of the relevant Committees of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and undertakes close coordination with the Codex contact points of the countries of the European region, the Codex Secretariat.
Contact point of INFOSAN, RASFF, as well as GMO-Platform also operates on the basis of the Center.

National Centre of Expertise

International cooperation of the National Center of Expertise

National Center of Expertise