The Successful Completion of the Thirteenth Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures CPM-13)

The Thirteenth Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM-13) was successfully completed on 20th April 2018 in FAO-HQs, Rome, Italy. After adoption of the Report on CPM-13, Mr Jingyuan Xia, IPPC Secretary Xia, made conclusion remarks by highlighting ten major achievements obtained in this CPM-13:

1) Organized a series of activities to showcase the 2018 IPPC annual theme Plant Health and Environmental protection, including a keynote address delivered by Dr Cristiana Pasca Palmer, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as a Special Topic Session and an IPPC-CBD Joint Side Event on Plant Health and Environmental Protection.

2) Supported the continuous effort for development of the IPPC Strategic Framework for 2020-2030, in particular by carrying out the extensive consultation among NPPOs and RPPOs.

3) Supported the further development of the IYPH initiative by agreeing the skeleton of IYPH programme events and their associated estimated costs, and encouraging CPs to provide extra-budgetary contributions to enable promotional activities to be done.

4) Strengthened the cooperation between standards setting and implementation by setting up the process for the Call for Topics Standards and Implementation, and improving work of the Task Force on Call for Topics. 5) Adopted five International Standards for Phytosanitary Masseurs (ISPMs), with two Diagnostic Protocols (DPs) noted, as well as the Fruit fly standards harmonized, reorganized and approved.

6) Strengthened the work on commodity and pathway specific ISPMs by developing the Terms of Reference for a small focus group on this issue.

7) Supported extensive application for the IPPC ePhyto solutions, establishment of the ePhyto Business Model, and development of five-year Plan for the ePhyto.

8) Agreed the further work on development of the IPPC Trade Facilitation Action Plan through the IPPC Strategic Planning Group (SPG).

9) Supported the continuous effort on the sustainable funding to the IPPC Work Programme by adopting the CPM draft decision on the Supplementary Contribution Arrangement, and calling upon FAO to consider increasing the funding basis of the IPPC Secretariat through reallocation of funds from its Regular Program Budget.

10) Recognized the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) as an RPPO under Article IX of the IPPC, which is the number 10th RPPOs of the IPPC Community.

At the end, IPPC Secretary Xia expressed his sincere gratitude to all CPM Bureau members for the strong support and guidance; to all participants for their active participation and interventions; to all staff of the IPPC Secretariat for their excellent performance teamwork; and to all the relevant FAO divisions and units for high-quality and timely service. In particular, he expressed his high appreciation to Lois Ransom, the outgoing CPM Chair, as well as the outgoing CPM Bureau members, Kyu-Ock Yim, Marie-Claude Forest, Corne van Alphen, and Kamal Bakr for all their outstanding contribution to the IPPC Governance and strong support to the IPPC Work Programme.