Strong Support of the IPPC from China under the Framework of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation programme

The formulation workshop on the IPPC project for strengthening the capacity of developing contracting parties to implement the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), under the Framework of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation (SSC) programme took place in FAO Headquarters in Rome from 21-23 November 2016. The workshop was cognized by the IPPC Secretariat and TCS1 Division. More than 30 participants attended the workshop, including representatives of BRICS counties (Brazil, India, China, and South Africa), project counties (Pakistan), four RPPOs (PPPO, IAPSC, APPPC and NEPPO), and the FAO regional office in Central Asia. The FAO Technical Cooperation (TC) divisions, Strategic Programme 2 and 4 officers, AGPM officers and the IPPC Secretariat also participated the Workshop.

Mr Jingyuan Xia, the IPPC Secretary, opened the workshop, Mr Carlos Watson, the team lead of TCS1 division made welcome address, and Craig Fedchock, the IPPC Advisor, chaired the workshop. Both Mr Xia and Mr Watson highlighted the importance of this work to facilitate the exchange of resources, technologies, innovations and knowledge between developing countries to help build sustainable food systems and enhance their capacities to improve their own livelihoods. Specifically, the FAO-IPPC-China SSC project will increase capacity of developing countries through strengthened technical cooperation between China, developing countries of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) geographical area and multilateral organizations.

The first part of the workshop included Chinese officials, regional and national participants and FAO technical officers sharing information on their activities that contribute towards implementation of the IPPC and its standards and where they see the need for capacity development. The second part of the meeting included review and comment on the draft project document. The proposed core activities and budget allocation was presented to the participants, under the four year project (2017-2020) timeframe, with a total budget of $USD2, 000,000. The core activities within four work packages of the project were discussed, which include support to: 1) IPPC Regional Workshops and IPPC NRO Workshops; 2) High level technical training courses on emerging phytosanitary issues in China; 3) IPPC-China Regional Symposia on development and perspective of OBOR initiative in China; 4) Demonstration of Chinese plant health technology at two pilot sites in selected OBOR countries; 5) Chinese professional staff technical support to the IPPC Secretariat; and 6) Communication and advocacy support to the IPPC plant health themed year initiatives, including the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) in 2020.

All participants agreed that there will be tremendous value from the planned activities, with an expected impact of increased food security and agricultural trade for participating developing countries. It is envisaged that agricultural productivity will increase among OBOR countries 1-2% annually and trade between China and OBOR countries will increase 4.5% per year. Additionally, capacity of over 200 developing country representatives from over 100 countries will be improved, international cooperation among 40 OBOR countries will be enhanced, implementation of IPPC programmes through technical partnership with China s NPPO will be enhanced and there will be an increased awareness of the IPPC at the global, regional and national levels.