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The 11th Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will be held virtually from 19-21 May 2021. 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 Seventeenth Regular Session of the Commission in February 2019 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 by FAO and countries in the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources
• review of the status of the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System.

The Commission also requested the Working Group to explore:

• access and benefit-sharing
• digital sequence information
• the role of genetic resources in mitigating of and adaptation of climate change
• applications of biotechnologies in management of genetic resources

The members of the Working Group and their Alternates, as elected by the Seventeenth Session of the Commission, are as follows:

Africa: Algeria, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Zimbabwe

• First Alternate: Namibia
• Second Alternate: Tunisia

Asia: China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand

• First Alternate: Bhutan
• Second Alternate: Malaysia

Europe: France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland

• First Alternate: Sweden
• Second Alternate: Switzerland

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

• First Alternate: Costa Rica
• Second Alternate: Jamaica

Near East: Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates

• First Alternate: Jordan
• Second Alternate: Qatar

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.