Over the past decade, new trade agreements between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries have come into force, with food standards playing a central role in both negotiations and implementation. Compliance with EU food safety regulations, particularly under Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTAs), is a prerequisite for achieving equivalence, facilitating the export of domestic products to the EU market. However, even for countries without a DCFTA, the EU remains a key trade partner, influencing food safety policies and regulatory practices. This paper examines domestic perspectives on evolving trade relations with the EU, focusing on how food safety standards are understood and implemented by domestic elites, producers, and consumers. We begin by outlining the EU’s expectations and the diffusion of sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures in Eastern Partnership countries. Drawing on interviews conducted between 2011 and 2025 as part of multiple international research projects, we then analyze how the EU food safety system has been received in Armenia and Georgia—two neighboring countries with differing contractual frameworks with the EU. Adopting an actor-centered approach, we argue that shifting trade relations with the EU have led to new actor constellations and coalitions in the food sector in both countries.

An uncertain global economy, extreme climate events, and the pandemic have all contributed to the uncertainty surrounding the resilience and flexibility of the global food system. The world community is now concerned about the gap in global development, of which food security is a significant part. As a result of the pandemic and the effects of climate change, food hunger has spread widely. China has an experience when it comes to implementing food security cooperation because of its extensive expertise in food and agricultural governance. China has attempted to apply its foreign policy ideas into a form of cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe. The trade cooperation between China and CEE is also now focused on agriculture and food production. As a result, numerous bilateral and multilateral forums for intergovernmental discussion were established.
This research is to determine the food trade potential between Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and China using the revealed comparative advantage index, furthermore, examine the patterns and trends of agriculture trade between CEE countries and China. Assessing the vulnerabilities and resilience of CEE-China supply chains in the post-pandemic era, and analyzing the effects of trade disruptions on food availability, access and utilization in both partners. To achieve the goals of this study, a qualitative methodology will also be used.