FAO and the Agriculture Trade Promotion Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, China convened the Asia-Pacific Policy Forum on Regional Trade Agreements and Food Security from 25 to 26 October, 2011 in Beijing, China.  The forum brought together approximately one hundred senior policy-makers, national policy think tanks, officials from international development agencies, academicians and experts on trade, agriculture and food security from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam as well as Mexico from outside the region to review and share their knowledge, experiences and insights on the subject to achieve enhanced understanding of the issues and draw practical lessons for informed policy-making. 

The Policy Forum provided an opportunity to review regional and country experiences regarding regional (AFTA, CAFTA, SAFTA and NAFTA) and bilateral trade agreements, in particular their impact on food security, and discuss appropriate combinations of policies for strengthening food security at the national and regional levels. The forum also discussed the experiences with country policies relying on imports for major agricultural products in which the country lacks comparative advantage.

The Opening session was addressed by H.E. Niu Dun, Chinese Vice Minister of Agriculture and Dr Tang Renjian, Deputy Director of the Office of Central Financing Work Leading Group who delivered keynote speeches on China’s agriculture policy changes since accessing WTO and ten years of China’s WTO accession, respectively. Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, in his opening remarks emphasized the importance of the deliberations in the Policy Forum in the context of the food security challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region. Alluding to high and volatile food prices during the last four years which has broken the long-term trend of declining real food prices for three decades with adverse implications on food security, Mr Konuma underscored that “the new economic environment calls for new approaches and a different set of policy responses”.