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The 10th Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will be held at FAO Headquarters in Rome from 27-29 June. The opening meeting will begin at 10:00 on Wednesday, 27 June 2018. The Session is being convened under the Regular Programme of the Organization. Simultaneous translations in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish will be available.

The Working Group was established by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture at its Seventh Session in May 1997, in line with Conference Resolution 3/95. The Sixteenth Regular Session of the Commission in February 2017 decided that the Working Group should meet prior to the next Regular Session of the Commission. Issues to be addressed by the Tenth Session of the Working Group include:

• review of the progress made in the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources;
• review of the new version of the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System

The Commission also requested the Working Group to explore:

• access and benefit-sharing
• digital sequence information
• the draft work plan for future work on sustainable use and conservation of microorganisms and invertebrate genetic resources as they are relevant to the animal subsector
• the draft Revised Strategic Plan for the Commission (2018-2027).

The members of the Working Group and their Alternates, as elected by the Sixteenth Session of the Commission, are as follows:
Africa: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, Tunisia

• First Alternate: Zimbabwe
• Second Alternate: Senegal

Asia: China, India, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand

• First Alternate: Lao People’s Democratic Republic
• Second Alternate: Indonesia

Europe: Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland

• First Alternate: France
• Second Alternate: Sweden

Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Panama

• First Alternate: Brazil
• Second Alternate: Jamaica

Near East: Jordan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen

• First Alternate: Islamic Republic of Iran
• Second Alternate: Iraq

North America: Canada, United States of America
Southwest Pacific: Fiji, Tonga

• First Alternate: Vanuatu
• Second Alternate: Samoa

According to the Statutes of the Working Group, Alternates replace, in the order in which they appear on the above list, any Member who has resigned and informed the Secretariat accordingly. Members of the Commission that are not members of the Working Group may participate, upon request to the Commission Secretariat, in the work of the Working Group as observers. The Working Group, or the Bureau on behalf of the Working Group, may invite experts, as well as representatives of specialized international organizations, to attend its meetings as observers.