The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific organised the consultation. The technical unit responsible for the meeting was the Gender and Development Office of the Sustainable Development Department. The consultation met from 9 to 12 March 2004 at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand. The Association of Food Marketing Agencies in Asia and the Pacific (AFMA), led by Executive Director Mukul Satyal and assisted by Nopphan Veraphan and Sutisa Loganit, provided organisational support for the meeting.
The programme included an opening session, technical sessions, an invited panel, presentation of experts’ papers and resource papers, facilitated general discussion and small group sessions. The consultation concluded with the presentation of the report and recommendations and adoption of the report. The complete programme is included as Annexure 1.
FAO/RAP invited country experts and resource experts. Country experts were invited from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. Resource experts were invited from India and Thailand. Participants from China and the Philippines, due to unavoidable personal emergencies, could not participate. FAO technical officers presented resource papers. The meeting included representation from UN agencies, government, civil society and academic and research institutions. The participants’ list is included as Annexure 2.
He Changchui, Assistant-Direc tor G eneral and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, gave the opening remarks. Revathi Balakrishnan, Senior Officer, Gender and Development, FAO/RAP, presented Consultation focus in the context of the international year of rice.
The consultation elected meeting officers, formulated the small discussion groups and elected facilitators. Swarna S. Vepa was elected chairperson, Monthathip Chanphengxay was elected vice-chairperson and R. Padmaja and Nguyen Thi Van Anh were elected rapporteurs. The group that discussed creating gender equal oppor tunities in Asian rice-based and rice-integrated livelihood systems in the changing technological milieu consisted of Ava Shrestha (Chair), Anan Polvatana, Padmaja R., Muhammad Sharif, Nguyen Thi Van Anh, Monthathip Chanphengxay and Rose Samuel. The group that discussed creating gender equal opportunities in Asian rice-based and rice-integrated livelihood systems in the changing economic milieu consisted of Farida Akhter (Chair), Suon Seng, Swarna Vepa, Ekawati Wahyuni, Jariah Masud, Angkarb Korsieporn and Hana Kobayashi.
