Go Back

A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION TO THE 42^nd NAPPO ANNUAL MEETING

From Oct. 23-25, 2018, the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO) held its 42nd Annual Meeting in the city of Tucson, Arizona. One hundred and forty-nine participants from twelve countries around the world (United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Italy, United Kingdom, El Salvador, Guatemala, Suriname, Costa Rica, Argentina) attended the meeting, including representatives from government and industry as well as academics and invited phytosanitary experts. The four knowledge topics (on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, Sea Containers, e-commerce, and the history of the international regulatory framework) were expertly presented and extremely well received by those in attendance. The Symposium entitled “Less is More – Precision Safeguarding” explored strategies for dealing with increased plant protection demands in an era of static or declining resources. The Symposium also included three posters on issues specific to Precision Safeguarding.

Mr. Osama El-Lissy, Chair of the NAPPO Executive Committee for 2018, provided the opening remarks on Tuesday morning, alongside words of welcome from Mike Gregoire Associate Administrator of USDA-APHIS and Mark Killian from the Arizona Department of Agriculture.

Meeting presentations during the plenary included project updates from the NAPPO Expert Groups, updates on the IPPC International Year of Plant Health (IYPH), ePhyto and the U.S. and Mexico citrus collaboration. Reports from Regional and International Partner Organizations were presented by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), and our sister Regional Plant Protection Organizations in Central America and the Caribbean – OIRSA and CAHFSA, respectively. Research and Training Initiatives of interest to NAPPO stakeholders were also part of the Agenda – on the Canadian Grower Certification Program (GCP), the PROCINORTE plant Health Task Force Initiative and EUPHRESCO.

The meeting allowed Government and Industry representatives to engage in discussions on emerging phytosanitary issues for North America.

The NAPPO Secretariat would like to take this opportunity to thank our industry partners that attended the meeting and all those who in any way contributed to the success of the meeting. Our next annual meeting will be in Montreal, Canada October 28-31, 2019. Check the NAPPO website (www.nappo.org) for updates and don’t forget to mark your calendars.