The Republic of the Philippines through the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Kingdom of Cambodia through the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) held the First Meeting of the Philippines- Cambodia Joint Technical Working Group in Agriculture and Agribusiness Cooperation. The meeting was hosted by MAFF at Apsara Palace Resort and Conference Center in Siem Reap Province on June 5, 2018. The Philippines was headed by Undersecretary for Operations and Agri-fishery Mechanization Ariel T. Cayanan while Cambodia was headed by Undersecretary of State San Vanty.
The joint bilateral meeting highlighted the progress of cooperation activities of both sides and has set the pace and priorities of future collaboration.
The Philippines expressed its readiness to share knowledge through conduct of trainings on Quality Assurance System of Fish and Fishery Products, Pesticide Residue Analysis in Agri-food Products and Agri-food Product Quality and Safety Management System. Likewise, Cambodia took positively Philippines’ proposal on black pepper germplasm exchange. Both countries agreed to come up with results ahead of the second meeting which is set to be hosted by the Philippines in the 3rd quarter of 2019.
Additionally, Cambodia encouraged the Philippines to invest in the agriculture sector of its country and enjoy the investment incentives that their government have in place. It also informed the Philippines that it will consider the possibility of renewing the Memorandum of Agreement on Rice Trade. Further, the Philippines also expressed its interest to export meat and meat products to Cambodia.
Finally, the Philippine delegation had a field visit in the rice seed community and organic vegetable farm of Siem Reap on June 6, 2018. The team was accompanied by the Provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
