Page 100 - 2018 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Collective Singing The Harvest Song Unit 4: Marketing Agricultural Products and Communicating Rural Policies (2) Pro-actively participating in international organizations The COA has continued to participate in relevant meetings and activities of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, as well as the Asian Productivity Organization (APO), the Asia-Pacic Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), and the African-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO). We have also strengthened relations with international institutions based in Taiwan, including the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg), the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC), and the International Center for Land Policy Studies and Training (ICLPST). In 2018 the COA also participated in the annual meetings and relevant working group meetings of regional fisheries management organizations, including the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO), the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), and the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). (3) Promoting agricultural cooperation The COA held bilateral agricultural cooperation meetings with nine countries in 2018, including Poland, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hungary, Australia, the UK, Israel, South Africa, and Vietnam. The COA also convened the “2018 Bilateral Meeting Between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Ofce in the US and American Institute in Taiwan on Agricultural Sciences Cooperative Programs,” to exchange experiences with disease prevention. In addition, the COA and France’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food jointly held the “2018 France-Taiwan Videoconference on Policy and Industry Exchanges for Agricultural Biogas Utilization.” We also convened the 2nd steering committee meeting of the cooperative projects with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. The COA arranged for the President of the Republic of Palau and the Minister of Agriculture of St. Lucia to visit Taiwan and learn about our success with agricultural development. We also hosted visits by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and Sustainable Development of Belize; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Marshall Islands; the Minister of Economic Development of Honduras; the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development of Kiribati; and legislators from Japan, the UK, Malaysia, the US, and elsewhere. 98