2nd Meeting of Expert Working Group on Phytosanitary Capacity Development, 23 - 27 May 2011, Montego Bay, Jamaica

The second Meeting of the Expert Working Group (EWG) on Phytosanitary Capacity Development took place in Montego Bay, Jamaica, 23-27th of May 2011. The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) had together with each FAO region delegates participating (unfortunately except Africa). Two observers representing the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture(IICA) participated in the meeting.

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Expert Working Group on Phytosanitary Capacity Development was created to review and refine the Phytosanitary Capacity Development Operational Plan and to assist the Secretariat with developing national phytosanitary capacity.

Under the first Agenda Item: Work Plan and Strategies, a revised version of the document of the ''Work Plan and Budget'' linked to the IPPC national phytosanitary capacity building strategy, was finalized to be presented to the SPTA, as well as a concrete proposal for the creation of a capacity development specialized structure in the IPPC framework. A set of proposals were discussed, resulting in ideas and criteria for the Terms of Reference for an Award on Capacity Development as well as the establishment of an IPPC Roster of Phytosanitary Experts. A demo conceptof the Projects and Activities database that was warmly received by the EWG, was presented by the IPPC Secretariat. Considerable discussion took place on the need for further resourcing of this activity.

Some of the future actions of the implementation of the project STDF/PG/350 were discussed at the EWG level and a call for availability of technical resources (manuals, SOPs , training materials and electronic media) directed to NPPOs and RPPOs shall be performed by the Secretariat, to help to populate the IPP Resources Page and to determine a set of priorities in the list of possible technical resources to be addressed and developed under the project. In addition the Secretariat reported on the ongoing activities related to the IRSS and the conduct of PCEs globally and the linkages of the EWG with IRSS were discussed.Â

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