PH to host 5-day ASEAN meetings

The Philippines will be hosting the five-day ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) meetings next week to discuss regional and international issues, and progress of the regional cooperation’s policy framework on food, agriculture and forestry. The meetings will be held at The Peninsula Manila in Makati City from September 7 to 11.

Following the ASEAN tradition and rotation of hosting meetings, 2015 will be the Philippines’ turn to host the AMAF ministerial meetings, namely, the 37th AMAF Meeting, the 15th AMAF Plus Three (AMAF+3) Meeting and the 4th ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (AIMMAF).

The country last hosted the AMAF meetings in September, 2005 in Tagaytay City.

Prior to the ministerial meetings, related senior officials meetings (SOM) are conducted to finalize stands on issues required for attention by the ministers.

From the SOM recommendations, the ministers endorse decisions that individual member states should act on. In the past meetings, these include harmonization of ASEAN maximum residue limits of pesticides for agricultural produce that are commonly traded in the region, standards for the production, harvesting and post-harvest handling of major fruits and vegetables, and standards for vaccines for infectious livestock and poultry diseases.

The meetings will be attended by ministers of agriculture, fisheries, and forestry from the 10 ASEAN countries, the Deputy Secretary-General of the ASEAN Secretariat; representatives of dialogue-partner multilateral organizations and representatives from ASEAN civil society organization. Ministers of agriculture, fisheries and forestry from the ASEAN+3 countries Japan, South Korea and China will also attend the 15th AMAF+3 Meeting and India for the 4th AIMMAF.

The meetings of AMAF with their “Plus Three” counterparts — Japan, South Korea and China — will tackle cooperation on issues related to food security, transboundary pest and animal diseases, forestry, climate change, biomass energy, and capacity building.

The AMAF+3 meetings will also discuss the progress on specific AMAF+3 sectoral cooperation activities such as the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve and the ASEAN Food Security Information System.

Some agreements between ASEAN and international or regional organizations may likewise be signed by AMAF and AMAF+3 in these ministerial meetings.

Meanwhile, the plan of action for the 20162020 ASEAN-India Cooperation in Agriculture and Forestry will be endorsed for approval by the ministers at the 37th AMAF Meeting. The cooperation was formalized through the convening of the 1st Meeting of the ASEAN-India Working Group on Agriculture and Forestry (AIWGAF) in January 2011 in New Delhi.

The ASEAN-India Cooperation on Agriculture and Forestry, developed during the first AIWGAF meeting, identified the convening of the AIMMAF as one of its regular activities under its 2011−2015 Medium-Term Plan of Action.