The APTERR Secretariat, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), successfully co-organised a hybrid workshop on ‘Building Resilient Rice Market and Robust Policy Framework in Asia’ on 24 January 2025. The event convened representatives from the APTERR member countries, food security-related organistations, and academic institutions, fostering insightful discussions on strengthening food security and stabilising rice markets through effective policy strategies.
The workshop structured into three sessions. Session 1 was about ‘Building Resilient Rice Market in Asia: Lessons Learned from Rice Market Crises’. Session 2 was the highlight, which was ‘ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework: Findings from ADB’s Review while Session 3 discussed on ‘Action for Building Resilient Rice Market.’
During Session 2, Dr. Choomjet Karnjanakesorn, General Manager of the APTERR Secretariat, empahsised that there were still many areas within the existing APTERR mechanism holding great potential for further improvement, such as expanding the definition of emergency to cover the emergency preparedness for ensuring the swift response and effective utilisation of APTERR, adopting the advanced data sharing arrangement for FEMI, improving the active Tier 3 implementation as well as building partnerships with relevant organisations in addressing the emergency relief and preparedness.
The APTERR Secretariat, therefore, wished to continue collaborating closely with the ADB to leverage its technical and human resource supports. This partnership could be instrumental in further developing APTERR to serve the region’s needs more effectively and fully realise its potential.
The workshop ended with a fruitful outcome. Not only did it drawn lessons from the past rice market crisis, but this workshop also served as a platform for experts from diverse fields to discuss actionable strategies for enhancing food security and building resilient rice markets in Asia in line with the findings of ADB’s review on the ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework.
