IPPC concludes its 2021 Asia Regional Workshop

Rome, 10 September 2021. The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) virtual Asia Regional Workshop convened daily from 6 to 9 September 2021 in four-hour sessions. The Workshop objective was to review and comment on eight draft standards and one CPM recommendation as well as the 2021 Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC) work plan and its 2022-2026 strategic plan. The IPPC regional workshop provided inputs to develop plant health capacity building for over 90 participants from 16 Asia and Pacific countries.

The IPPC Secretariat, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the APPPC Secretariat co-organized the workshop chaired by Kyu-Ock Yim, Department of Plant Quarantine of the Republic of Korea who thanked the organizing committee for an excellent virtual setting with particular recognition to the IPPC and APPPC Secretariats, representatives of the CPM Bureau, and the Standards and the Implementation and Capacity Development Committees.

A welcome video message from Avetik Nersisyan, IPPC Officer in Charge of Daily Matters, emphasized that the IPPC Community continues guaranteeing the right to food for all by protecting plant health. Nersisyan attributed the endorsement of the IPPC Strategic Framework 2020-2030 as the beginning of a new era for the phytosanitary community. Fuxing Wang, CPM Bureau member; Masahiro Sai, Standards Committee member; and Chris Dale, Implementation and Capacity Development Committee Vice-Chair gave updates on Governance and Strategy, including the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures and its Bureau, the Standards Committee, and the Implementation and Capacity Development Committee.

During the workshop participants reviewed and commented on the eight draft standards and one CPM recommendation, including discussions around pest free areas, phytosanitary import regulatory systems, the use of irradiation as a phytosanitary measure, commodity-based standards, pest risk analysis, contaminating pests, and more. Other discussions focused around the APPPC work plan for 2021, the 32nd session of the Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission in China, the International Year of Plant Health legacy, and the APPPC strategic plan for 2022-2026.

The agenda of the Asian Regional Workshop included also updates and presentations on the IPPC e-Phyto Solution, the 2021 call for topics launched by the IPPC Secretariat, sea containers, and National Reporting Obligations (NROs). The latter was accompanied by two polls to evaluate the participants’ understanding and knowledge of NROs ended the technical discussions. In addition, the APPPC Secretariat encouraged all the participants to submit nominations for their representatives to take part in the IPPC Standards and Implementation Committees, and working groups.

Learn more:

Report of the 2021 IPPC Regional Workshop for the Asia region [available soon]

Presentations from the 2021 IPPC Regional Workshop

2021 IPPC Regional Workshop video: English | Arabic | French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian