On 8 August 2022, Mr. Chantanon Wannakejohn, Secretary-General of the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE), Ministry of Agricultural and Cooperative (MOAC) of Thailand had attended the Bilateral Meeting in Tokyo, Japan with Mr. KANKE Hideto, Director General, Statistics Department (SD), Minister's Secretariat, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan to discuss the effective and smooth implementation of AFSIS in the future.

The representative of Thailand are Mr. Vinit Atisook, Deputy Secretary General of OAE, Dr. Waraporn Saelee, AFSIS Manager, Mr. Somsak Vivithkeyoonvong, Minister Counsellor (Agricultural), and Mr. Sakon Wanasethi, Counsellor (Agricultural) as an interpreter in a meeting. Moreover, Mr. KIMURA Keitaro, Director of Statistics Planning Division, MAFF, Mr. Hosaka Masahiro, AFSIS Focal Point of Japan, and the Statistical Planning Division staff, MAFF, had attended this meeting as well.

The objective of this significant meeting is to exchange candid opinions in both Thailand and Japan for the future medium-long term framework of AFSIS and to form a common understanding of the general direction to be taken for solving the issue on the sustainability of AFSIS as a mechanism for food security in the ASEAN region.

During the meeting, Dr. Waraporn Saelee presented the current status of AFSIS, including the history and financial situation. In addition, the summary results of the proposed options for the future operational structure of AFSIS along with the discussion made in the 20^th AFSIS Focal Point Meeting in June were presented in this meeting for further discussion.

The meeting was successfully ended with great collaboration from both sides to confirm their utmost attempt in order to support the continuity and progression of the AFSIS outcomes in the future.