The IPPC Secretariat delivers for the third time the training course on Developing national phytosanitary capacities at CIHEAM - Bari Italy

© CIHEAM- 2018: All participants of the 2018 IPPC-CIHEAM-Bari Training Course on Developing Phytosanitary Capacities

For the third time, the IPPC Secretariat, delivered the IPPC-CIHEAM Bari training course on Developing national phytosanitary capacities at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute (CIHEAM-Bari) from the 28th of May until the 8th of June 2018 in Bari, Italy. Ms. Sarah Brunel, the Implementation Facilitation Officer of the IPPC Secretariat was involved in this activity on the IPPC behalf.

The course was delivered to 16 students of the CIHEAM Master 1 Integrated Pest Management programme. Students originated from several countries in the Mediterranean Basin (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia). In addition, six researchers on Xylella fastidiosa (from Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia), and five staff of National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) from Cameroon, Canada, Jamaica and Nigeria attended this training on a self-funded basis.

The course was contributed from officers from CIHEAM-Bari, the EPPO and the IPPC Secretariat. The syllabus of the course focused on concreting case studies on Xylella fastidiosa and included a field visit to an area in the Italian region of southern Apulia, where there is an outbreak of this disease. Marica Gatt, Director General of the NPPO of Malta and also the CPM Bureau member for Europe, shared her experience as a former student of the CIHEAM-IPM Master s programme. The NPPO staff attending the course also gave presentations on their activities in the framework of the course. The NPPO staff greatly appreciated the training and its interactive nature. They particularly enjoyed the exchange of experiences with other NPPOs, the opportunity to have field visits and to learn more about the work of the IPPC Secretariat. In the future, this training could be tailor made to exclusively meet the needs of NPPOs. The IPPC Secretariat is looking for financial resources to develop and conduct this training course.