IPPC and Bangladesh join forces to advance plant health cooperation

Rome, 30 April 2019. The IPPC Secretariat met at FAO headquarters with ten delegates from the Ministry of Agriculture of Bangladesh to discuss plant health priorities and areas of cooperation.

The Bangladeshi delegation, headed by the Ministry of Agriculture s Additional Secretary Mr. Ashraf Uddin Ahmed, and Mr. Nurul Alam, Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension, discussed its plant health priorities, including emerging pests, import and export compliance, sustainable and safe agriculture. They informed that they carried out a Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE), which helped identifying gaps in their phytosanitary system, and resulted in the elaboration of a strategy to fill these gaps. After setting up a laboratory, next steps would include updating relevant national legislation in cooperation with partners like FAO.

The IPPC Secretariat was represented by Mr. Avetik Nersisyan, Standard Setting Unit Leader, Mr. Mirko Montuori, Governance and Public Information Officer, and Ms. Sarah Brunel, Implementation Facilitation Officer. They presented on the role of the IPPC, FAO and the WTO SPS Agreement, the IPPC standard setting process, ePhyto, PCE and the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH).

The meeting resulted in a broader understanding of the IPPC mandate, and triggered ideas for cooperation as a follow-up to the recent PCE. Bangladesh also showed an interest in enhancing its participation in the IPPC standard setting process, including via submitting comments on draft standards, and in coordinating national-level activities in view of IYPH in 2020.