DATO Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong, Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, yesterday attended the 38th Meeting of the Asean Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in Singapore where the ministers reiterated their commitment to intensify their cooperation to contribute to the realisation of the Asean Community 2025.
In a joint statement, the ministers said they were pleased with the successful implementation of the initiatives related to food, agriculture and forestry cooperation in supporting the completion of the Roadmap for the Asean Community (2009-2015) and the establishment of the Asean Community.
“We tasked all Sectoral Working Groups under AMAF to implement the relevant measures in the Asean 2025: Forging Ahead Together and the Strategic Plan for Asean Cooperation in Food, Agriculture and Forestry 2016-2025 (SP-FAF 2016-2025).”
The meeting took place under the chairmanship of Lawrence Wong, Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance of Singapore. Also present was Dr Haji Abdul Manaf bin Haji Metussin, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, Brunei Darussalam.
The statement said, “To realise the strategic thrusts of the SP-FAF 2016-2025, we adopted the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the SP-FAF 2016-2025 and the respective Strategic Plans of Action (SPA) for Asean Cooperation in Livestock, Crops, Fisheries, SPS Measures and Asean Cooperation in Agricultural Cooperatives for the period 2016-2020, as well as the Strategic Plan of Action for Asean Cooperation in Forestry for 2016-2025. We noted the progress of streamlining the structure under AMAF and urged the Senior Officials to complete the process and present the outcomes to the AMAF for ad-referendum approval.”
Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong, in a group photo with other Asean ministers. – MPRT
On food security, the ministers said, “We noted the progress made in the implementation of the Asean Integrated Food Security (AIFS) Framework and Strategic Plan of Action on Asean Food Security (SPA-FS) 2015-2020, particularly the cross-sectoral coordination in ensuring supply of sufficient, affordable, safe and nutritious food through the development of the Matrix of Key Areas of Cooperation and Joint Activities for Asean Multi-Sectoral Cooperation on Food Security and Nutrition.”
On food safety and product quality, the ministers said, “We were pleased with the progress and achievements made in the harmonisation of standards of foods, agriculture and forestry products in Asean to ensure safe and good quality agriculture produce and to facilitate Asean trade of these products.
We endorsed the following documents: (i) Intra-Asean Phytosanitary Guidelines for mango and corn; (ii) Revised Principles of Harmonisation for the Establishment of Asean Maximum Residual Limits (MRLs); (iii) List of four Asean MRLs for selected agriculture produce; (iv) Asean Standards for bitter gourd, loofah, broccoli, cauliflower, head lettuce; and (v) Asean Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP) for Animal Welfare and Environmental Sustainability Module. We recalled that the Asean Food Safety Regulatory Framework (AFSRF) has been endorsed in order to enhance consumer health protection and facilitate movement of safe food in the region.
“We welcomed the full signing of the Agreement on the Establishment of Asean Coordinating Centre for Animal Health and Zoonoses (ACCAHZ), and looked forward to the establishment and operations of the centre to provide and facilitate a unified approach and broader framework of regional coordination.
On forestry, the ministers said, “We acknowledged the significant progress made in the forestry sector, particularly in (i) Promoting Sustainable Forest Management (SFM); (ii) International Forest Policy Processes; (iii) Timber Certification Initiative; (iv) Herbal and Medicinal as well as forest products development; (v) Wildlife Enforcement and CITES Cooperation; (vi) Forest and Climate Change; and (vii) Social Forestry.
“Strengthening Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG): Recognising that effective FLEG would provide environmental, social and economic benefits to the region, further enhance the competitiveness of Asean forestry products in the global market and expand developmental opportunities for future generations, we emphasised the urgent need for effective co-operation in this area at the national, regional and international levels, particularly through:
i. Strengthened efforts in preventing and combating illegal logging and its associated trade in timber and timber products through enhancing national forest policy and regulations and inter-agency coordination among enforcement agencies;
ii. Developing a regional framework for mutual recognition of timber legality system;
iii. Strengthening co-ordination of joint strategies, approaches and actions to seek greater market access and promote Asean forest products that are sourced legally;
iv. Strengthening collaboration on information exchange and technology transfer with all relevant stakeholders and international communities; and
v. Adopting Asean common positions on issues related to timber legality and associated trade at international fora, where possible.
“We adopted the Work Plan for Forest Law Enforcement and Governance in Asean 2016-2025, and mandated the Asean Senior Officials on Forestry (ASOF) to spearhead the implementation of the Work Plan in collaboration with other relevant Asean sectoral bodies and international partners.”
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