The 29th Technical Consultation among the Regional Plant Protection Organizations convened in Paris France

EPPO 2017. TC RPPO meeting delegates participated in a technical visit to capture the phytosanitary control functioning at the Rungis wholesale market in Paris France - the largest wholesale food market in the world.

The 29th Technical Consultation (TC) among Regional Plant Protection Organizations (RPPOs) was held from the 30th October to 3 November 2017 in Paris France. The meeting was organized and hosted by the European Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) with the attendance of 9 RPPOs, and the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA), the proposed RPPO for the Caribbean region.

Meeting participants received welcome addresses from the EPPO Director Martin Ward, and IPPC Secretary Jinyuan Xia. The Director General for Food representing the French Minister of Agriculture, Agri-food and Forest, Patrick Dehaumont also welcomed participants, and highlighted positive collaboration with EPPO. Mr. Ward was elected as the Chair of the meeting and Juliet Goldsmith was elected as meeting Rapporteur.

RPPOs presented their recent activities including technical and capacity development achievements, emerging pests and issues of their respective regions, surveillance projects and activities, and proposals for future collaborative efforts. A special highlight of the meeting was the endorsement by RPPOs recognizing the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) as an RPPO. A recommendation supporting CAHFSA as an RPPO will be presented to CPM-13 (2018).

EPPO 2017. RPPO meeting delegates with signed document supporting CAHFSA as the RPPO for the Caribbean region.

Meeting participants discussed enhancing the engagement of RPPOs in the IPPC Standard Setting process, streamlining the IPPC regional workshops, and the potential role of RPPO collaboration with the work of the Implementation and Capacity Development Committee (IC). The role of RPPOs in supporting the implementation of electronic certification to facilitate trade was discussed together with Peter Neimanis from the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Australia and the Chair of the IPPC e-phyto steering group. He presented an update of the project to RPPOs which received active discussion and numerous comments on the technical aspects of the project. The RPPOs made several recommendations aimed at increasing information exchange between RPPOs and the project s future ePhyto activities.

RPPOs were asked to consider several elements related to RPPO contributions towards implementation of ISPM15, RPPOs support towards resource mobilization activities, and RPPOs support in advocating the International Year of Plant Health 2020 (IYPH) initiative. RPPOs agreed to support each activity where possible. RPPOs reviewed their workplan from 2017 and agreed upon an annual work plan for 2018. They agreed to work on systems approaches related to Huanlongbing, fruit flies, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Cubense (TR4), to collaborate on research related to TR4, to participate in the development of the new Strategic Framework, and to participate in the IYPH steering group, among other actions.

EPPO 2017. TC-RPPO meeting delegates at the EPPO Headquarters in Paris, France

The next TC-RPPO will be hosted by the Comunidad Andina (CAN) October 29 - November 2, 2018. Please see the IPPC Calendar for any changes. All documents presented at the 29th TC-RPPO are available on the IPP. You can access the Report for the 29th TC-RPPO here.