Overview of risk assessment activities for the food safety area in East European Neighbourhood Policy countries

The EU's European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) promotes stability, security and prosperity in neighbouring countries. It builds on common interests and a shared commitment to cooperate on key priority areas including food safety. This technical report presents a summary of an online workshop held on 4 November 2020, with East European Neighbourhood (ENP‐East) countries and contributions from the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission (DG SANTE and DG‐NEAR), the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung, BfR) and the Institute of Food safety, Animal Health and Environment "BIOR" of Latvia.The aim of the workshop was to present the current status of risk assessment activities in the six ENP‐East countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), discuss the challenges they face and explore opportunities for cooperation with the European Union (EU) and other international organisations. A summary of the presentations is provided along with relevant key risk assessment activities in each country. Contributions from EFSA and the WHO are also included. Opportunities and challenges for the food safety area are discussed particularly to further enhance risk assessment capabilities in ENP countries through cooperation, capacity building and staff exchange between ENP, EU and international organisations as the most efficient tools to achieve such goals.