On 24 August 2021, the APTERR Secretariat attended the virtual meeting of the Special Senior Officials Meeting of the 20th Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry Plus Three (SSOM-20th AMAF+3) hosted by Cambodia. Mr. Chanpithya Shimphalee, the General Manager of the APTERR Secretariat, reported the progress of APTERR activities occurring from 2020-2021.
With the successful Tier 1 programme between Japan and the Philippines, both parties expressed intention to extend the collaboration while other APTERR member countries showed their interest to participate in the programme. A total of 5,029 MT of rice contributed by Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have been implemented through the Tier 3 programme to address emergencies including natural and man-made calamities and the COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. Of the total rice volume, 2,130 MT was portioned out to tackle COVID-19 and minimise the suffering of over 100,000 vulnerable people.
This year also marks the successful introduction of the first APTERR Annual Report on Food Security 2020 and Outlook 2021 regarding the Food Emergency Monitoring and Information (FEMI) mechanism. The report was launched in June 2021 for APTERR member countries.
The Meeting took note of the progress of APTERR activities as well as the status of ratification of the Protocol to Amend the Attachment 2 of the APTERR Agreement, and expressed sincere appreciation to Japan and the ROK for their contributions.
The next SSOM-21st AMAF+3 Meeting will be hosted by Indonesia in 2022.
