27th Session of the Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics

In accordance with Article VI-1 of the FAO Constitution, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) is organizing the twenty- seventh session of the Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS 27), in Port Denarau during 19-23 March 2018 at the kind invitation of the Government of Fiji.

Purpose of the meeting

The Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS) is a statutory body of FAO. APCAS brings together senior statistics officials from FAO member countries of the Asia and Pacific region, who are responsible for the development of agricultural statistics in their respective countries. They review the developments in their agricultural statistics systems since the last session and exchange ideas with experts from FAO and other organizations on the state of food and agricultural statistics in the region. FAO uses this occasion to inform the member countries about its activities in during the preceding biennium, particularly in Asia and the Pacific region.

The prominent themes on the Agenda of this session are: Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals, Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics, developing an Integrated System of Agricultural Census and Surveys. Launching of Pacific Strategic Plan for Agricultural and Fisheries Statistics (P-SPAFS) during this sessions, is expected focus on the specific issues faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Membership of the Commission

As per the Statute of the Commission, themembership of the Commission is open to all Member Nations of FAO and Associate Members whose territories are situated wholly or partly in the Asia and the Pacific Region or who are responsible for the international relations of any non-self-governing territories in the Region. As of January 2018, 27 countries are members of APCAS, namely Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, People’s Rep. of China, Fiji, France, India, Indonesia, Islamic Rep. of Iran, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Viet Nam.

FAO member nations interested in becoming member of the Commission are welcome contact the APCAS-Secretary for guidance in this regard.