G-20 Group of Agriculture Ministers Supports the IPPC ePhyto and the Initiative of an International Year of Plant Health in 2020 IYPH 2020)

The G-20 Group of Agriculture Ministers at their meeting on 27-28 July 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina have endorsed the IPPC s efforts to build an electronic certification system (ePhyto) and the initiative of an International Year of Plant Health in 2020 (IYPH 2020).

In their final declaration, Agriculture Ministers of twenty countries that represent 60 percent of all agricultural land and about 80 percent of world trade in agricultural products stated:

Para. 6: We are ready to actively engage in the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) to address collectively the new challenges of agriculture.

Para. 25: We also welcome and support the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) decision on developing a globally harmonized Electronic Phytosanitary Certification Basis (ePhyto) as a concrete and efficient way of facilitating international trade.

Dr. Jingyuan Xia, Secretary of the IPPC, acknowledged this show of support: This declaration by the G-20 Group of Agriculture Ministers represents a recognition by key nations of the IPPC s efforts to enhance the ability of all of its contracting parties to facilitate safe trade in plants and plant products more efficiently, as well as raise awareness of the importance of protecting plant health to sustain life on the planet.

The ePhyto project is an effort to digitize paper Phytosanitary certificates to allow quick transmission of information between trading partners thus lowering delays at customs, lowering the risk of fraud and increasing the efficiency of trade in plants and plant products.

The IYPH 2020 is expected to be approved by the UN General Assembly later this year and will help increasing global awareness of the importance of plant health, which in turn provides so much of what humankind needs for its very existence.

The full text of the Ministers declaration can be found at https://www.g20.org/sites/default/files/media/g20_agriculture_declaration_final.pdf

To know more about IPPC s ongoing work on ePhyto, please visit https://www.ippc.int/en/ephyto/

To know more about ongoing preparations for the proclamation of an International Year of Plant Health in 2020 (IYPH 2020), please visit https://www.ippc.int/en/iyph/