Reflecting on the achievements of CPM-8 April 2013)

It has been over 2 weeks since the Eighth Session of the CPM and it is time to reflect on the achievements and plan for the next 12 month work cycle. Mr. Steve Ashby, the Chairperson of the CPM, noted the achievements of CPM in his summary. The main highlights were: - two new international standards for phytosanitary measures (ISPMs) agreed without CPM discussion, plus a long list of standards now available in the Russian language; - good progress in improving the position on registering the IPPC symbol (ISPM 15: 2013) - an agreed way forward on the topics of sea containers, grain and ePhyto; - a good understanding of the financial position of the IPPC; - adopted rules of procedure for the Bureau, and agreement on the rotation of the chair and vice-chair of the Bureau - updates on progress in the capacity building area and the Capacity Development Committee, as well as some useful training sessions in the margins of CPM; - adopted the IPPC communications strategy and considered how to improve and take forward the work plan - examined how to improve national reporting obligations; - held an excellent science session on Probit 9; and - above all - we met each other and talked to improve understanding of each other s positions, and hence moved towards the primary objective of protecting the world s plants from pests The Secretariat is now very actively planning and organizing the work programme for the next 12 months starting with the SC meeting next week. Please keep up-to-date my checking your e-mails and monitoring the IPP, especially the IPPC calendar and the IPPC news items.