On 19-20 September 2023, the AFSIS Secretariat attended the Satellite Applications for Societal Benefit Working Group (SAWG) which was a working group session of APRSAF-29 that was jointly organized by the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) of Indonesia, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The APRSAF-29 was held in Jakarta, Indonesia this year.

2 representatives from the AFSIS Secretariat which were Dr. Sumanya Ngandee, AFSIS Manager, and Ms. Prodpran Lomthong, Project Coordinator, attended the SAWG physically and virtually respectively.

The SAWG session had the following objectives: to promote and facilitate the utilization of space-based systems, including Earth observation satellites and navigation satellites, in conjunction with ground-based information to contribute to global agendas. This contribution aims to address a wide array of common social issues in the region while also establishing and strengthening a sustainable cooperative framework between space agencies and stakeholders, including end-users and development aid agencies.

During the SAWG session, Dr. Sumanya had the honor of presenting the AFSIS project and its implementation of Rice Growing Outlook (RGO) activity, including the collaboration with relevant organizations such as JAXA, MAFF, ISRO, RESTEC, GISTDA, and VNSC regarding the utilization of satellite-derived agricultural information through the human resource development activities. Furthermore, AFSIS’ suggestion to keep continuous dialog with the space community to improve the efficiency of the RGO report and for the capacity-building activity for ASEAN member countries was acknowledged.

In this regard, the Meeting discussed the way forward to extend the good results of RGO activity in collaboration with AFSIS to other countries and regions to other programs and initiatives i.e., ISRO’s Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) or United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).