TNAG-2110-FCO40-3009-Hong-Kong-participation-in-international-organisations-1990 — Page 6

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REPORT ON THE REGIONAL EXPERT CONSULTATION ON PLANT QUARANTINE HARMONIZATION OF PHYTOSANITARY PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES

IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC REGION (30.7.90 - 3.8.90, Bangkok, Thailand)

BY

CLIVE S.K. LAU

Agricultural Officer (Plant Protection)

INTRODUCTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS

1.

The Expert Consultation on Plant Quarantine was held at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAPA), Bangkok from 30.7.90 to 3.8.90. Twenty nine delegates from sixteen countries (viz. Australia, China, Denmark (represented by Danish Government Institute of Seed Pathology for Developing Countries (DANIDA)), India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UK (Hong Kong), USA and Vietnam) participated in the Consultation. Representatives from European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO), North American Plant

Plant Protection. Organization (NAPPO) and the ASEAN Plant Quarantine Centre and Training Institute (PLANTI) also partook in the Consultation. The list of participants is attached as Annex I. All participants in the meeting, be it a member country of APPPC or an observer, were treated with equal status and were allowed to express their opinion freely.

2.

Mr. A. Catley, Vice Chairman of the current APPPC Executive Committee, emphasized that the Consultation was very important in the context of the current Uruguay round of GATT multilateral negotiations which were commenced in 1986 and were scheduled to be completed at the end of 1990. The purpose of the consultation, said Mr. Catley, was to heighten the awareness of APPPC members to developments under the GATT round which were likely to impact on their responsibilities for plant quarantine. Dr. Singh, Regional Plant Production and Protection Officer of RAPA, urged the Consultation to concentrate primarily on three substantive items of the agenda, namely, harmonization of principles and procedures and pest risk assessment, in order to develop the APPPC position papers for FAO's papers on the same issues at the global level.

3.

Mr. A. Catley (Australia) and Mr. Radhey Shyam (India) were elected by the Expert Consultation as the Chairman and Vice Chairman respective. The Agenda as adopted by the Expert Consultation is set out in Annex II. To speed up the discussion, three working groups were formed (Annex III) to work on specific area of phytosanitary principles, plant quarantine procedure and pest risk assessment and to produce reports to the Consultation for further comments.

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