Dear colleagues,
On behalf of the entire IPPC Secretariat, I am pleased to convey my sincere greetings to you for the holiday season, and show my great appreciation for your strong support and positive contribution to the IPPC throughout 2018.
This has been a remarkable year for the IPPC, with much progress made on the IPPC annual theme of “Plant Health and Environmental Protection”. Among the many achievements of this year, allow me to name a few:
1) A series of activities have been organized to disseminate the 2018 IPPC annual theme, resulting in increased cooperation with the Convention on ...
The UN General Assembly has declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). This global observance is expected to raise awareness of the importance of plant health to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals and to strengthen plant protection services at all levels.
The news has received great attention on the web, including on the FAO and IPPC websites:
Several statements and press releases were delivered by countries, regions and partners:
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IPPC hails proclamation of the International Year of Plant Health
UN General Assembly proclaims 2020 as year to recognize and protect plant health
20 December 2018, Rome – The UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Plant Protection Convention Secretariat, based at FAO, welcome the UN General Assembly’s adoption today of a resolution proclaiming 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). The year is expected to increase awareness among the public and policy makers of the importance of healthy plants and the necessity to protect them in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Today, up to ...
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10 December 2018, Tokyo - Participants from the Asia Pacific Region caught a glimpse of how the IPPC “ePhyto Solution” can facilitate trade at a recent meeting held in Tokyo, Japan from 9 to 10 December 2018. The joint meeting of the Asia and Pacific ePhyto Workshop and the Asia Pacific Plant Protection Convention (APPPC) ePhyto Working Group included participants from fourteen countries and the IPPC Secretariat, represented by Senior Advisor Mr. Craig Fedchock.
Live demonstrations of the IPPC ePhyto Hub and the Generic National System (GeNS) were conducted during the meeting. ePhytos are electronic phytosanitary certificates whereas the “Hub” is ...
16 November 2018, Cape Town - The 2017 landmark World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) seeks to facilitate trade by reducing red tape and bureaucracy at borders; while promoting cooperation among border agencies. Indeed, the WTO estimates that the “full implementation of the TFA could reduce trade costs by an average of 14.3 percent and boost global trade by up to USD 1 trillion per year, with the biggest gains in the poorest countries”.
In order to explore ways to implement the TFA without compromising sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, a Border Agency Cooperation Workshop was organized ...
11 December 2018 - The Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) Bureau met virtually on 11 December 2018. Participants included six Bureau members and IPPC Secretariat core team members. Mr. Javier Trujillo (Mexico) chaired the meeting.
The meeting covered important topics such as sustainable funding for the IPPC Secretariat, resource mobilization, the Agenda and side sessions for CPM-14 (2019); and updates from the IPPC Standards and Implementation and Capacity Development (IC) Committees, and the Task Force on Sea Containers.
The CPM Bureau decided on several action points and agreed to:
present the recommendation on Next Generation Sequencing technologies as a diagnostic tool ...
23 November 2018, Rome - Mr Xia Jingyuan, IPPC Secretary, met with H.E. Mr Senzeni Zokwana, South Africa’s Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, during the International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers held at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Minister Zokwana was accompanied by H.E. Prof Shirish M. Soni, the South African Ambassador to Italy.
The IPPC Secretary Xia expressed his gratitude to Minister Zokwana and Ambassador Soni for South Africa’s continuous and strong support to the IPPC’s dispute settlement activity. He also briefed them on important IPPC developments including commodity and pathway standards ...
7 December 2018, Tokyo – The IPPC ePhyto Project Technical Committee (PTC) and IPPC ePhyto Steering Group (ESG) met in Tokyo, Japan from 3 to 7 December 2018 to review and provide feedback on the recently developed Generic ePhyto National System (GeNS); and several ePhyto strategies.
The GeNS allows countries to produce, send and receive electronic phytosanitary certificates through a harmonised exchange tool called a "hub". The hub was released for country use in June 2018, while the GeNS system will start its pilot phase during the first quarter of 2019 and will be released during the second and third quarters ...
The IPPC helps safeguard biodiversity by protecting the environment from invasive alien species such as the water hyacinth. This and other related topics were presented at a Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-14) side event. ©FAO/L. Lizzi
19 November 2018, Sharm El Sheikh - The International Year of Plant Health 2020 and the IPPC’s work in protecting plants from invasive alien species were highlighted during a side event at the 2018 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD - COP 14) held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
The side event called ...
6 December 2018, Rome - The IPPC Technical Panel for the Glossary (TPG) meeting was hosted by the Italian National Plant Protection Organization from 3 to 6 December 2018 in Rome, Italy.
Mr Federico Sòrgoni from the “Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali” warmly welcomed the TPG members and experts representing all six official FAO languages. He highlighted the panel’s important role in ensuring that the global IPPC community uses the same language and terminology in their work.
The TPG develops and revises the phytosanitary terms in the Glossary of phytosanitary terms (ISPM 5). It also ensures consistency in ...
9 November 2018, Shenzhen, China - With the huge volume of international trade, sea containers can become vehicles for plant pests and diseases to spread into new areas. The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) has therefore set up a special Sea Containers Task Force (SCTF) to deal with this specific issue. The SCTF’s second meeting recently took place from 5 to 9 November 2018 in Shenzhen, China where participants:
reviewed the Terms of Reference (ToRs) and the Rules of Procedures (RoP) of the IPPC SCTF;
discussed the Commission on Phystosanitary Measure’s Recommendation (R-06) on Sea Containers – in particular the ...
Participants at the third IPPC Implementation and Capacity Development Committee meeting in Rome. © FAO
30 November 2018, Rome - The third meeting of the IPPC Implementation and Capacity Development Committee (IC) was held between 26 and 30 November 2018 at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. The meeting addressed the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures’ (CPM) request to establish a clear management and governance structure for this new committee established in 2017. New strategies to enhance high priority IC activities such as the Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE), the development of guides and training materials, phytosanitary capacity development projects, collaboration between the IC and ...
29 November 2018, Brussels – Delegates from the IPPC Secretariat met with Mr Viwanou Gnassounou, Assistant Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), to discuss potential cooperation between both Secretariats. This was the first time that such a collaboration was officially discussed.
During the meeting, Mr Jingyuan Xia, IPPC secretary, expressed the IPPC’s strong interest in cooperating with the ACP Secretariat in particular in building phytosanitary capacity at the national level; celebrating the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) in 2020; and combatting emerging regulated pests.
Mr Xia briefed Mr Gnassounou on the ...
29 November 2018, Brussels – The IPPC delegation met with representatives from the European Commission’s (EC) DG SANTE and briefed them on important activities of the IPPC Secretariat, such as developing the IPPC strategic framework for 2020-2030; promoting commodity and pathway standards; enhancing safe and efficient trade, preparing for celebration of the International Year of Plant (IYPH) 2020; and dealing with emerging regulated pests.
The IPPC Secretary, Mr Jingyuan Xia, also expressed his sincere gratitude and appreciation to DG SANTE for its continuous and generous support to the IPPC’s work programme in cooperation with DG TRADE. He further urged ...
