Taiwan-based international body sets meeting in RP

LOS BANOS, Laguna – For the first time, the biennial meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of an international center will be held in the Philippines.

The May 31-June 4 17th meeting of the TAC of the Taiwan-based Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC) will be held in this town with the theme "Information Technology in Agricultural Extension."

The top-level conference will be co-hosted by the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).

Among the major issues and concerns that the meeting will focus on are the FFTC’s programs and directions for the Asia-Pacific Region. It will also tackle topics related to information technology and the center’s accomplishments.

DOST-PCARRD and FFTC have been cooperating in programs, projects, and activities of common interest since they signed a memorandum of agreement in 1983. The areas of cooperation include exchange of scientists and conduct of scientific meetings and workshops, particularly on agricultural resource management and livestock.

Since both came into being in the early 1970s, this is the first time that the FFTC technical advisory committee will hold its biennial (once in two years) meeting in the Philippines. — Rudy A. Fernandez