CGIAR and ASEAN held national consultations to define what is next for food systems in the region

To identify national and regional needs for food, land, and water systems transformation, CGIAR conducted seven country consultations workshops and three official dialogues in ASEAN member states.

Jean Balié, the CGIAR Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Pacific along with Ministers and high officials from respective countries inaugurated these virtual workshops. They were attended by partners from the private sector, academia, national agricultural research organizations, and other stakeholders from Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Bilateral dialogues were also held with Singapore, Brunei, and Myanmar.

Balié said that a new ASEAN-CGIAR research and innovation for development program could help realize the vision for the ASEAN food system that has been set out in the ASEAN Vision and Strategic Plan for Cooperation in Food, Agriculture, and Forestry 2016-2025 and the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. These workshops should help co-create and co-design a new ASEAN-CGIAR research and innovation for development program.

Partnership is the cornerstone of the relationship between CGIAR and ASEAN

Building a strong partnership between CGIAR and ASEAN Member States can help build an agri-food system in the ASEAN region that is both resilient to climate change and fit-for-purpose in terms of delivering key economic, social, and environmental goals.

Nafees Meah, ASEAN-CGIAR Program Director, emphasized that this is an opportunity to co-design relevant pathways to impact reflective of national and regional needs.

“The challenge is [for CGIAR] to really understand the context of each country and build on structures and programs that are in place already and not replicate things,” said Stephan Weise, ASEAN-CGIAR Program Co-director.

Overall, there is a clear appetite in ASEAN Member States to work more strategically with CGIAR.

CGIAR also met with ASEAN Secretariat officials to discuss the outputs of the national technical consultations and…