The IPPC Workshop on National Reporting Obligations for Asia held in China

The IPPC Workshop on National Reporting Obligations (NOR) for Asia took place 5-9 September 2016 in Beijing, China. The workshop was jointly organized and supported by the IPPC and the APPPC. The Meeting was attended by 25 participants from 16 countries of the Asian region, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Democratic People s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Lao People''s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Viet-Nam. Mr. David Nowell and Ms. Dorota Buzon from the IPPC Secretariat as well as Mr Yongfan Piao and Mr Yusof Othman from the APPPC/FAO-RAP were present at the Workshop on the organizers behalf. The Meeting was opened by Mr Tianrun Zhong, the Deputy Director General of the National Agricultural Technology Extension and Science Service (NATESC) of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. Mr Zhong highlighted the fact that Food Security remains a top priority for China, and he expressed his support for IPPC activities as relevant to plant protection.

During the Workshop, the NRO related topics were presented by the IPPC Secretariat and then discussed by the participants such as: changes to the IPPC information exchange since 2011; NRO statistics for the APPPC countries; future NRO-related activities to 2020; NRO on-line training material; NRO Year of Pest Reporting; and the importance of networks. General IPPC topics were also discussed, e.g. the latest IPPC achievements; upcoming International Year of Plant Health in 2020 and the IPPC Communication and Advocacy.

Participants presented new NRO reports of their countries and worked on the development of national NRO work plans towards 2020. The Workshop also included a hands-on demonstration and training of NROs data entry. During this session participants uploaded the new NRO reports on the IPP website. There was also a separate session dedicated to APPPC website. Participants were very active and enthusiastic suggesting possible improvements for the IPP and NROs. Participants also visited Green Control Demonstration Centre of Chang Ping district in Beijing, China. The Center conducts experiments on growing methods for fruit and vegetable produced under protection including works on new varieties.

Participants noted the value of a physical NRO workshop as they were able to exchange ideas and learn from each other. In addition, it was valuable to be able to ask questions related to practical challenges in their countries. APPPC members developed national NRO and APPPC actions plans addressing actions for at least the next two years. These commitments will be monitored by the APPPC Secretariat and will significantly contribute to APPPC members meeting their IPPC NROs.

This Workshop was the first exercise for the IPPC Secretariat to substantially strengthen the communication network on NRO among the IPPC community in the next five years (2016-2020). The IPPC Secretariat intends to organize at least one Workshop on NROs for each FAO region within the next five years in cooperation with relevant RPPOs as well as FAO regional and sub-regional offices. Mr Jingyuan Xia, the IPPC Secretariat, encourages all the NPPOs to be active in participating the IPPC Workshops on NRO, and all the RPPOs to be active in co-organizing the IPPC Workshops on NRO.