The three-day meeting is billed "Philippine-ACIAR Consultation-Workshop on Priorities for a Collaborative Program of Agricultural Research for Development."
ACIAR stands for Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. It is a statutory authority that operates as part of the Australian Government Development Assistance Program within the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio.
The center was established in June 1982 to assist and encourage Australia’s agriculture scientists to use their skills for the benefit of developing countries and Australia. Its programs are aligned with Australia’s aid program objectives of poverty alleviation and sustainable development in partner-countries.
Following are the objectives of the Philippines-ACIAR consultation workshop:
• To exchange views on development problems and opportunities in the agricultural, forestry, fisheries, and natural resources sectors of the Philippines, especially collaborative opportunities and mechanism for extension of research results.
• To review and discuss ACIAR’s programs of activities in the Philippines and, in particular, the reasons for the non-delivery and low impact of research project outputs.
• To enable ACIAR to gain a better understanding of the Philippine extension system, including its problems, constraints, successes and failures, and jointly determine strategic opportunities to improve the delivery and impacts of collaborative research projects.
• To familiarize the Philippines with Australia’s particular scientific expertise and comparative advantages in agricultural research, and advise the areas in which Australia can make a useful and mutually beneficial contribution.
• To identify priorities for future collaboration between Australia and the Philippines in agricultural research for development.