Strengthening of Cooperation between the IPPC and STDF

Mr Jingyuan Xia, the IPPC Secretary, had a meeting with Mr Melvin Spreij, the Secretary of the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) on 15 June 2016, at FAO-HQ in Rome, Italy. Mr Craig Fedchock (the IPPC Coordinator), Ms Sarah Brunel (the IPPC Implementation Officer) and Mr Marko Benovic (the IPPC Finance Officer), also attended the meeting. The main objective of the meeting was to discuss a number of topics related to projects funded by STDF, projects ongoing and potential next steps for moving forward in the relationship between the two organizations.

Ms Brunel reviewed the report of the most recent meeting of the Capacity Development Committee held in Incheon, Republic of Korea, as well as described plans for the CPM focus group on the Implementation and Capacity Development Committee (ICDC) to be held in Paris, France, in July 2016. Mr Fedchock briefed Mr Spreij on the developments related to the STDF funded ePhyto project, and the meeting of the Industry Advisory Group (IAG) on ePhyto project held at FAO-HQ, Rome Italy, this past May. Discussions also covered the results of STDF project 350 to develop manuals and training kits, and the current status of STDF project 401 Training of Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE) Facilitators.

Both Secretaries exchanged their views on the importance of next year s IPPC theme Plant Health and Trade Facilitation. In this context, they both agreed that there is a lot of potential for fruitful activities to take place and benefits to both organizations.