The Governing Body of the International Treaty, through the Resolution 6/2017, requested the Secretary in collaboration with other stakeholders and subject to the availability of financial resources, to explore the possibility of establishing a Joint Programme on biodiversity in agriculture for sustainable use of PGRFA for consideration at its Eighth Session on 2019.

With the generous support of Italy and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM http://www.iamb.it/en), an Informal Meeting of Experts on the implementation of the sustainable use of PGRFA and the Joint Programme on Biodiversity in Agriculture was organized in Valenzano (Bari, Italy) from 23 to 25 May 2018.