(Item 13 of the agenda)a) Venue of the Nineteenth Session of APCAS
140. The Republic of Korea offered to host the Nineteenth Session of the commission scheduled in 2002. The Head of the Republic of Korea delegation informed the commission that the Government of the Republic of Korea would be honoured to host the next session which would come after its hosting of the 53rd Session of the International Statistical Institute in 2001. The commission welcomed the invitation by acclamation and conveyed its thanks to the Government of the Republic of Korea. It requested the Secretariat to pursue the matter with relevant authorities.
141. To allow countries to properly prepare themselves to host subsequent APCAS sessions, the commission agreed that a medium-term indicative schedule might be useful. For further sessions after 2002, the heads of delegations of Bangladesh and India expressed their countries’ willingness to consider hosting the 2004 session. Delegates from Iran and Thailand likewise conveyed their countries’ interest for the 2006 session.
b) Other Business
142. The commission stressed the importance of focusing country statements on the four areas agreed at the Twelfth session, namely: a) recent and proposed changes in the statistical organizations relating to food and agriculture; b) agricultural and related surveys undertaken and plans for the future, including those on the census of agriculture; c) recent innovative activities and measures undertaken since the last commission session; d) outstanding problems.
143. The commission recommended that the scope of the country statements should include statistics on forestry, livestock and fisheries. It also recommended that country presentations during the session should focus on selected key issues especially new and innovative developments.
144. The Host Government, Indonesia, arranged a field visit for the delegates to a strawberry farm in Pencasara Bedugul, followed by an observation tour to a functioning traditional irrigation system known locally as subak in Baha Mengwi Village.
