Great Success of the 2nd IPPC Global Symposium on ePhyto

The 2nd IPPC Global Symposium on ePhyto was held 9-13 November 2015 in Incheon, Republic of Korea, and was financially supported by the Government of Korea. About 80 participants attended the Symposium, who came from over 50 contracting parties of the Convention along with industry and multinational organizations. Mr. Suhyon Rho, the Governor of the Animal and plant Quarantine Agency, delivered the Welcome Address, Mr. Jingyuan Xia, the Secretary of IPPC Secretariat, did the Opening Remarks, and Ms. Kyu-Ock Yim, the Chair of CPM, made a presentation on the International Year of Plant Health 2020. The Symposium was facilitated by the ePhyto Steering Groups (ESG) and the Coordinator of the IPPC Secretariat.

The five day symposium heard a number of presentations from the participants, but most importantly took the first steps in tackling how to implement the work program for the ePhyto project funded by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF). In his closing remarks, The Secretary Xia expressed his thanks to the Republic of Korea and the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency for their support and excellent organization of the symposium. The Secretary Xia also noted the positive contributions from the ePhyto steering group and the participants in general. He noted that there is a lot of work yet to be done, but he felt that the positive composition of the people working on ePhyto globally will result in a great success.