On 20 October 2023, the AFSIS Secretariat joined a webinar organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and APTERR Secretariat on the topic “Strengthening Food Security in Southeast Asia: Regional Cooperation, Market Development, and Policy Reforms”.

There were over 50 participants which were APTERR member countries and organizations. The representatives from the AFSIS Secretariat were Dr. Sumanya Ngandee, AFSIS Manager, Mr. Charapon Chantorn, Deputy AFSIS Manager, Mr. Yasuhiro Miyake, Japanese Expert, Ms. Worada Wongsud, Secretary to the Japanese Expert, Ms. Prodpran Lomthong and Ms. Chayanit Meelong, Project Coordinator attended the meeting.

The objective of the webinar was to strengthen food security in Southeast Asia by presenting an overview of the progress made by ASEAN in implementing an integrated food security framework over the past decade, providing insights into the regional cooperation framework for the emergency rice reserve system within ASEAN and its role in addressing food system challenges, and exploring opportunities for scaling up regional cooperation and market development among ASEAN countries, and developing an enabling domestic policy environment to strengthen food security.

The discussion was divided into three themes. 1) Developing Emergency Rice Reserve System: Lessons learned from ASEAN Regional Cooperation Framework 2) Fostering Rice Futures Market in Southeast Asia, and 3) Strengthening Food Security Policy: Country Case Study in Malaysia.

On this occasion, the AFSIS Secretariat had the opportunity to present in the first theme panel discussion by Dr. Sumanya Ngandee, introducing AFSIS’s background, activities, and ambition to become a sustainable mechanism in the near future to continuously enhance food security in the region by systematically collecting, analyzing, and disseminating food security-related information within member countries in the region and other organizations.

At the end of the webinar, delegates from relevant organizations also exchanged various perspectives on the earlier themes. For example, the World Food Programme focused on leveraging rice fortification throughout ASEAN and the progress that ASEAN has made to strengthen food security over the last decade in different dimensions.