On 21 July 2023, Mr. Hideya Yamada Director General of the Statistics Department, and Mr. Masahiro Hosaka, Deputy Director of the Statistics Planning Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan visited the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) to attend the bilateral meeting with Mr. Chantanon Wannakejohn, Secretary-General of the OAE, Ministry of Agricultural and Cooperative (MOAC) of Thailand, to discuss the effective and smooth implementation of AFSIS in the long term.
The representatives of OAE are Mr. Vinit Atisook, Deputy Secretary General of OAE, Ms. Anyada Penpon, Senior Statistician, Mr. Anon Boonyawattana, Statistician Practitioner Level, Ms. Natnaphat Subtaweepollert, Plan and Policy Analyst, and also AFSIS Secretariat attended the meeting.
The objectives of this significant meeting are to exchange candid opinions on the details of the AFSIS new framework and to form a common understanding of the general direction to be taken, and issues to be addressed.
Furthermore, the Meeting discussed the detail of Japan’s joint research project on developing an estimated method of rice production by using satellite imaging data to promote the interaction of agricultural statisticians among AFSIS member countries.
The meeting successfully ended with great collaboration from both sides to confirm their utmost effort in order to support the continuity and progression of the AFSIS outcomes in the future.
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On 5–6 March 2026, the AFSIS Secretariat participated in the 14th Meeting of the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Council via video conference, hosted by the Kingdom of Cambodia. The meeting brought together representatives from ASEAN Plus Three countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN Food Security Reserve Board (AFSRB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the APTERR Secretariat, and the AFSIS Secretariat to discuss key issues related to regional food security and emergency rice reserves.
On 18 February 2026, the AFSIS Secretariat participated in the international event Google’s “Impact of AI on Global Agriculture,” organized by Google.org at Roseate House, Aerocity, New Delhi, India.
On 12-13 February 2026, the AFSIS Secretariat, in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Japan and the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE), Ministry of Agriculture Cooperatives (MOAC), conducted a workshop conducted a workshop The Promoting Rice Planted Area and Production Estimation Using INAHOR and Space-based Technologies in Thailand at the Meeting Room 2, Innovation Building, 3rd FL, Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE)
The In-Country Workshop on Promoting Rice Planted Area and Production Estimation Using Space-based Technologies in Lao PDR was jointly organized by AFSIS Secretariat, JAXA, MAFF Japan, and MAE Lao PDR under the AFSIS-GIS and SAFE projects. The event was held in Vientiane with hands-on training on 9 February 2026 and a workshop on 10 February 2026.
