Agriculture makes a substantial economic contribution to most APEC member economies, and the issues of food security and safety are of critical importance to the region.
The objective of the Agricultural Technical Cooperation Working Group (ATCWG) is to enhance agriculture's contribution to the region's economic growth and social well-being by promoting agricultural technical cooperation between APEC members. The ATCWG's objectives are to improve the capacity of agriculture and its related industries and to share information and experiences in the areas of agriculture, biotechnology, and animal and biogenetic resource management. Priority is given to projects and activities that build members' capacities to increase trade in agricultural products.
This work contributes to APEC's trade facilitation agenda by reducing business transaction costs, enhancing marketing capacity and improving the implementation of agriculture-related provisions in free trade agreements (FTAs).
In recent years, APEC Leaders have charged the ATCWG with: strengthening food safety standards; responding to food security challenges; promoting the development of next-generation sustainable biofuels; enhancing agriculture's ability to adjust and mitigate the impact of climate change; and strengthening technological cooperation in the strategic planning of ATCWG projects. The development of capacity building programmes in these areas is now a core ATCWG activity.
The ATCWG is composed of government officials and experts from academia.
- Achievements
- Current Activities
- Contacts
- News
- Events
In 2010, the ATCWG provided support and recommendations to the 1st APEC Ministerial Meeting on Food Security (MMFS) which led to the Niigata Declaration on APEC Food Security. Through workshops and projects, the ATCWG has played an important role in enhancing the capacity building aspect of food security within the region.
The areas of priority that ATCWG would like to focus in next five years to enhance APEC Food Security will be;
- Improving agricultural production and distribution through increased innovation, nutritional value, and food safety
- Improving human and institutional resource capacities in agriculture through education and training
- Improving aspects of environmental and natural resource management, infrastructure development related to food security
- Improving agricultural information systems and analysis
- Improving the preparations for natural disasters and cross border threats
ATCWG projects that were implemented in 2009-2010 include:
- An international symposium on "Biofuels from Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Wastes" that was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand in May 2010. The objective was to discuss and exchange knowledge on recent progress in biofuels technologies, as well as related policies in APEC economies to understand the complex interactions in the areas of food and energy security.
- A workshop on "Ease of Doing Business in the Agricultural Sector" was held at the margins of the Food Security Forum in August 2010. The workshop addressed the legal and institutional constraints that impact food security. A diagnostic tool – AgCLIR (Agricultural enabling Climate Legal and Institutional Reform) - was introduced. The tool identified and addressed agribusiness challenges in an economy's legal and regulatory environment.
- The project on "Enhancing Food Security through a Regional Approach and Wide Stakeholder Participation to Plant Biosecurity" was held in Selangor, Malaysia in December 2010. It included an interactive workshop and a series of activities that reviewed existing pest management policies and practices among member economies and suggested appropriate strategies for wide stakeholder participation.
- A workshop on “Agricultural Land Use and its Effect in APEC Member Economies” that was held in Beijing, China in October 2009.
- The 2010 Quarantine Regulators Meeting that was held in Vińa del Mar, Chile in June 2010.
- An APEC Food Security Forum was held at in Chinese Taipei in August 2010.
- An APEC workshop on Food Productivity and Food Security in APEC Member Economies” was held in Beijing, China in September 2010.
The 15th ATCWG meeting was held in Washington, DC in February 2011. Participants agreed to work towards promoting agricultural technical transfer and cooperation within the APEC region as technology transfer is vital for innovation in agro-sectors in developing economies.
Accordingly, the APEC Agricultural Technology Transfer Forum and the 4th China Advanced Agricultural Technology Exhibition, co-organized by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Committee, was held in Beijing on 23-24 November 2011. The theme of the forum was “Strengthening Agricultural Technology Transfer for Food Security in APEC Region”
More than 500 agriculture officials, senior experts, entrepreneurs and representatives of farmer associations from 17 APEC member economies participated in the forum. The forum was aimed at implementing the declaration of the 2010 APEC Leaders’ meeting and Ministerial Meeting on Food Security.
Participants provided analysis of their domestic policy environment, shared successful experiences, and held discussions on developing models for agricultural technology transfer among APEC economies. Other discussion topics included climate change, intellectual property, and food security.
Japan is also working towards developing a platform for information sharing on food security as tasked by the APEC Action Plan on Food Security. The workshop on Food Security Information Platform was held in February 2011 to exchange ideas among APEC members to develop an information platform to be linked to the APEC website. The information and statistical data from the platform will benefit all member and is expected to be ready in 2012.
The following ATCWG projects are planned or underway in 2011:
- The APEC-ATCWG Biofuels Network Annual Symposium and Biotrade/Technical Training Workshop was held in May 2011.
- A risk analysis on cross-border spread of animal influenza in trade areas of borders and communication for information will be conducted in October 2011.
- The Promotion of Indigenous Vegetables for Coping with Climate Change and Food Security in APEC workshop will be held in October 2011.
Dr TANG Huajun (Mr)
Lead Shepherd
Vice President
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)
12 Zhongguancun South Street
Beijing 100081, China
Tel: +8610 8210 8372
+8610 8210 9477
Fax: +8610 8210 3005
6217 4060
Email:
Cc:
atcwg@caas.net.cn
kjin@caas.net.cn
(Dr JIN Ke)
Thanawat SIRIKUL (Mr)
Program Director
APEC Secretariat
Email: