Dr. Choomjet Karnjanakesorn, General Manager of the APTERR Secretariat, together with Mr. Akinori Ando, Japanese Expert, Ms. Jansinee Kankaew, Head of Implementation, and Ms. Nattavadee Sraprathum, Technical Staff for FEMI, visited the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand on 28 January 2025 to promote APTERR’s activities, and discuss a possibility to bolster food security in the ASEAN Plus Three region by improving nutrition for emergency rice assistance through rice fortification.
The WFP team, led by Ms. Anita Hirsch, Deputy Regional Director (Support Service) Asia and the Pacific, warmly welcomed the APTERR Secretariat representatives. Dr. Karnjanakesorn then provided an overview of APTERR and its activities, highlighting the successful implementation of the Tier 3 programme. The WFP acknowledged the importance of APTERR’s works and emphasised the need to addressed the exacerbation of micronutrient deficiencies in time of emergency, which rice fortification could help alleviate.
Both parties had a productive discussion on developing a proposal on ‘APTERR-WFP Rice Fortification Project’ to be presented at the upcoming 13th APTERR Council Meeting in February 2025 in Japan. This project aims to foster deep collaboration between the APTERR and WFP in bolstering food security and enhancing nutrition in the ASEAN Plus Three region through rice fortification. The meeting ended with a positive note to refine the proposal, and move the project forward.
The APTERR Secretariat’s collaboration with the WFP on rice fortification dates back to 2023 when the APTERR Secretariat first welcomed the WFP representatives to exchange views and explore potential cooperation on distributing fortified reserve rice with micronutrients to disaster-affected countries in order to strengthen food security and nutritional resilience in the ASEAN Plus Three region.
