Dhaka to host FAO Regional Confce on Mar 8-11

Bangladesh is likely to host the 36th session of the Asia and Pacific Regional Conference (APRC36) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) in Dhaka from March 8 to March 11 this year.
The government ministers from 46 countries in Asia and the Pacific will gather in the conference to reach consensus inter-alia on the way forward, following the damage dealt by the global pandemic to lives and livelihoods of those involved in the food and agriculture sectors in the world's most populous region.
The APRC convened by the FAO, will be hosted by the Bangladesh government in Dhaka. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will welcome delegates to the conference convened in hybrid modality.
The 46 Member Nations in Asia and the Pacific, as FAO's regional governing body will set in motion a two-year course of work for the FAO regional office and its technical specialists, through direction of a set of prioritised country and regional needs.
The APRC will be a forum to discuss current country and regional priorities and pressing issues in the region such as the impact of Covid-19, the state of agriculture, natural resources management, food security and nutrition.
It is also an opportunity to highlight examples of partnerships, innovation and digital technologies that are helping to improve food security and nutrition across the region as well as regional and global policy and regulatory matters.
According to a press release of the FAO Bangladesh, the UN body intends to reflect on these issues to understand CSO aspiration and scope out possible avenues of collaboration through a series of workshops to feed in to the 36th APRC (Dhaka, Bangladesh) discussions and complement to the statement by the spokesperson for the Civil Society Consultation.
In specific the objective will be to brief and gather inputs on regional and global policy, regulatory, programme, budget and other matters pertaining to APRC 36 with specific focus on the state of food and agriculture in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, actions to promote climate resilient agri-food systems, One Health priorities, conserving, restoring and sustainably using biodiversity for food security and nutrition, scaling up inclusive digitalization in agricultural value chains.
The conference will also consider responses to multiple longstanding and ongoing issues including the biodiversity and nutrition in the Pacific Islands, balancing the needs of people, domestic animals, wildlife, biodiversity, and ecosystems through 'One Health' approaches, in the face of limited natural resources, while addressing ongoing threats to plants or crops and animals, Fall Armyworm, African Swine Fever and Avian Influenza across the vast region will also be discussed.
Implementing the new FAO strategy on dealing with climate change and opportunities that are emerging from applications of innovation, science and digitalisation in the food and agriculture sectors to provide solutions will be discussed.