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The 13th Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Working Group) will be held at FAO headquarters in Rome from 20 to 22 November 2024. The meeting will be conducted in person and will open on Wednesday 20 November 2024 at 10:00 hours. The Session is being convened under the Regular Programme of the Organization. It will be held in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The Working Group was established by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture for Food and Agriculture at its 7th Session in May 1997. The Nineteenth Regular Session of the Commission in July 2023 decided that the Working Group should meet prior to the next Regular Session of the Commission. Issues to be addressed by the Thirthteenth Session of the Working Group include:

• review of the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources;
• review of the status of the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System; and
• preparation of the Third Report on the State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The Commission also requested the Working Group to explore:

• the role of genetic resources in mitigating of and adaptation to climate change; and

• options for a procedure for the ad hoc identification of new and emerging issues for inclusion into the Commission’s Multi-Year Programme of Work.

The Members of the Working Group and their Alternates, as elected by the Nineteenth Regular Session of the Commission in July 2023, are as follows:

Africa:  Chad, Ethiopia, Gambia, Mauritania, Zimbabwe

• First Alternate: Malawi
• Second Alternate: Namibia

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

• First Alternate: Bangladesh
• Second Alternate: Malaysia

Europe: France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland

• First Alternate: Kingdom of the Netherlands
• Second Alternate: Norway

Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Panama, Uruguay

• First Alternate: Costa Rica
• Second Alternate: Peru

Near East: Egypt, Libya, Qatar, Sudan

• First Alternate: Kuwait
• Second Alternate: Oman

North America: Canada, United States of America

Southwest Pacific: Samoa, 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 are requested to confirm to the Secretariat in writing their participation or non-participation in the Working Group meeting. If a Member of the Working Group is not able to attend the meeting, and informs the Secretariat accordingly, the Member shall be replaced in a timely manner by one of the elected Alternates from the same region. In case a Member of the Working Group does not attend the meeting, the Working Group, in consultation with the region, may replace this Member, on an ad hoc basis, by a Member of the Commission from the same region that is present at the meeting.