The twelfth Session of the Commission of Phytosanitary Measures Successfully Completed in Incheon Republic of Korea

The twelfth Session of the Commission of Phytosanitary Measures (CPM-12) was successfully held from 5-11 April 2017 in Incheon, Republic of Korea. This was the first CPM that was organized outside of Rome in the history of the IPPC. Ms. Kundhavi Kadiresan (Assistant Director General of RAP-FAO) delivered opening remarks. Both Mr. Jae-Soo Kim (Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of Republic of Korea) and Mr. Jeong-Bok Yoo (Mayor of Incheon City) presented welcome addresses.

The opening ceremony of CPM-12 was attended by Mr. Kunio Mikuriya (Secretary General of the World Customs Organization, WCO), Mr. Bong-Kyun Park (Commissioner of Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency of Republic of Korea), Ms. Lois Ransom (CPM Chair from Australia), and Mr. Jingyuan Xia (IPPC Secretary). The opening session was moderated by Ms. Kyu-Ock Yim (former CPM Chair and current Bureau member from Republic of Korea), and the Plenary Session was chaired by CPM Chair Ransom. Over 250 participants participated in CPM-12, representing 121 contracting parties (CPs), 9 regional plant protection organizations (NPPOs) and 20 observer organizations.

In his conclusion remarks, IPPC Secretary Xia highlighted ten major achievements obtained in CPM12:

1) A series of activities was organized to disseminate the IPPC annual theme for 2017 Plant Health and Trade Facilitation, including the keynote address delivered by the WCO Secretary-General Mikuriya, the Special Topic session on e-Commerce, and the side session on ePhyto.

2) Fifteen International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) were adopted and ten Phytosanitary Diagnostic Protocols approved by the SC, were noted; twenty-five in total. This represents a record number of adopted standards for a single year in the history of the IPPC.

3) A new oversight body was established for an Implementation and Capacity Development Committee (IC), which will be set up within 2017.

4) The CPM endorsed the outcomes and outputs for celebrating an International Year of Plant Health in 2020 (IYPH) as proposed by Steering Committee of IYPH.

5) The CPM supported the continuing progress in implementing the ePhyto pilot project, in particular for developing and demonstrating the IPPC ePhyto hub and Generic System.

6) The CPM established Sea Container Task Force (SCTF) for enhancing progress on this important issue.

7) The importance of e-Commerce in relation to Phytosanitary risk management at global, regional and national levels was highly recognized in a special topic session.

8) The CPM supported the development of the IPPC Strategic Framework for 2020-2030, for which all NPPOs and RPPOs were encouraged to be actively engaged in contributing to any thoughts on this issue.

9) The CPM agreed on the need for long-term sustainable and predictable funding mechanism for IPPC Work Programme.

10) Several activities were organized to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of the IPPC, including a presentation on the Major Achievements of the IPPC in 65 Years at the Plenary Session of CPM 12 by IPPC Secretary Xia, and one celebratory Cocktail at CPM-12.

At the end, IPPC Secretary Xia expressed his sincere gratitude to all participants for their active participation and valuable interventions; to all CPM Bureau members for the excellent work and timely guidance; and to Korean MAFRA and APQA for the generous support and excellent organization. In particular, he expressed his high appreciation to Kyu-Ock Yim and Hoogsook Park from APQA for their extraordinary contribution to having the first CPM so successfully organized outside of Rome in the IPPC history. Last but not least, he expressed his great thanks to entire IPPC Secretariat staff for the fantastic teamwork and perfect performance to make this historical event so successful, fruitful and memorable.