1. We, the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministers of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea held our Fifteenth Meeting on 11 September 2015 in Makati City, Philippines, under the Chairmanship of H.E. Proceso J. Alcala, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Philippines.
2. We were pleased with the significant progress made in the implementation of cooperation activities and projects under the nine Strategic Thrusts of the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation Strategy (APTCS) on Food, Agriculture and Forestry 2011-2015, including: strengthening food security; enhancement of capacity-building and human resource development, sustainable forest management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, strengthening of information system and knowledge networking and exchange; and enhancement of productivity, quality and marketability of agriculture and agricultural products.
3. In support of the Cha-am Hua Hin Statement on ASEAN plus Three Cooperation on Food Security and Bioenergy Development adopted by the ASEAN Leaders in 2009, we reaffirmed the promotion of bioenergy towards sustainable agriculture and rural development. In this regard, we adopted the ASEAN Plus Three Bioenergy and Food Security Framework 2015-2025 with the objective to assist ASEAN Member States in ensuring that sustainable, food-secure and climate-friendly bioenergy contributes to the economic development.
4. We appreciated the good progress in the implementation of the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Agreement as it is the main mechanism for strengthening regional food security and reducing poverty. We noted that the implementation of Tier 3 programme to aid the Super Typhoon Haiyan victims in the Philippines was completed with distribution of the total amount of 6,730 MT of rice contributed by China, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. The last distribution was 580 MT of rice from Japan. We noted that the APTERR Secretariat has started the implementation of Tier 3 (pre-positioned stockpiled rice system) under Japan’s 2015 contribution by seeking the prospective host countries to store the donated rice.
5. We noted the need to have preparatory stage to work on the details of ASEAN Food Security Information System (AFSIS) permanent mechanism, including consideration of various possible mechanisms and the arrangement of AFSIS Secretariat.
