New CPM Chairperson!

The Commission on Phytosanitary Measures, the CPM governing body of the International Plant Protection Convention, welcomes Ms. Kyu-Ock Yim, from the Republic of Korea and very active member of the phytosanitary community, who has been elected as the new Chairperson of the CPM. Mr. Peter Thomson (New Zealand), representing the Southwest Pacific region, was elected as the Vice-Chairperson of the CPM Bureau.Ms. Yim has represented Asia on the CPM Bureau for four years, and has served as the Chairperson of the Financial Committee of the CPM Bureau.

The newly elected CPM Chair addressed the Commission and thanked the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency and the Government of the Republic of Korea for raising her as an active participant in the IPPC. She welcomed her new appointment and accepted to humbly serve the CPM for the next two years.

Since her first attendance at an IPPC meeting fifteen years ago, Ms Yim has worked with Korea s Department of Plant Quarantine, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, MAFRA, and gained a vast understanding of the importance of various components of NPPO activities, the resources required, and the great need for transparency and promotion of this work. She has been an active member in organizing capacity development activities, the establishment of a PRA system in Korea s NPPO, and hopes to organize a global symposium on ePhyto in 2015.

For the past two years, Ms. Yim has guided the IPPC financial reporting and budgeting process and is very aware of the resource challenges faced by the IPPC Secretariat. In her first address to CPM, she recognized the good progress made within the IPPC framework in recent years and noted that more attention needs to be given to resource mobilization, communication and raising awareness. Ms. Yim expressed her enthusiasm to initiate high-level meetings with ambassadors and FAO senior officers that may directly influence visibility and resources.

Ms. Yim noted that sixty years ago, her country was considered one of the poorest in the world, and now is entering the status of a developed country. She has grown up with the development of her nation. Ms. Yim related the progress of her country to the increased research and awareness of plant health and the safe trade of plant and plant resources.

Ms. Yim thanked the current CPM Chairperson, Mr. Steve Ashby for his efficient and effective leadership over the past two years and looks forward to a successful term with the full support of the CPM Bureau and IPPC Secretariat.