- The Forty-Third Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) was held on 27 October 2021 via video conference. The Meeting was chaired by His Excellency Dr. Syahrul Yasin Limpo, Minister of Agriculture, Republic of Indonesia.
Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the food, agriculture and forestry sectors and recovery efforts
- The Meeting expressed concern over the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and agreed that agriculture is one of the key sectors severely affected by the pandemic together with other sectors such as labour, logistic, quarantine requirement, trade, supply chain, and transportation. The Meeting agreed to exert efforts on implementing recovery measures to ensure sufficient and continuous food supplies and the functioning of business activities and services to the food and agricultural systems; and reiterated the following commitments to effectively address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: (i) continue to implement the 2020 Statement of ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry in Response to the Outbreak of The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) to Ensure Food Security, Food Safety and Nutrition in ASEAN, (ii) promoting government support on public-private partnerships to develop suitable food safety management systems such as HACCP for agricultural businesses of all scales, and (iii) strengthen regional efforts in controlling animal diseases and zoonoses by eliciting the expertise of members in the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Animal Health and Zoonoses (ACCAHZ). In this connection, the Meeting appreciated the support from Australia and FAO to assist the operationalization of ACCAHZ through the project on Strengthening Mechanisms in Animal-health for a Resilient ASEAN (SMART ASEAN).
Download the full Statement here.
