The Taiwanese delegation led by Minister Tsao Chi-hung Council of Agriculture, departed Taiwan for Peru on September 23, 2016 to participate in the Fourth APEC Ministerial Meeting on Food Security (MMFS). In addition to explaining the various food safety measures implemented by Taiwan in recent years and subsequent achievements, Minister Tsao also discussed cooperative strategies to maintain food safety in the Asia-Pacific region with other ministers and delegates. Moreover, Tsao held bilateral meetings with MMFS Ministers or representatives to exchange views on important issues and strengthen bilateral agricultural relations with other countries.

APEC member economies jointly discussed and studied cooperative strategies for the Asia-Pacific region

　　The COA stated that Minister Tsao led a delegation composed of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, COA, and other administrative branches to participate in the Fourth MMFS in Piura, Peru. Food security has always been the focus of continuous attention around the world. After the meetings in Niigata, Japan (2010); Kazan, Russia (2012), and Beijing, China (2014), the ministers gathered again to face the rigorous challenges brought onto world agriculture and food industries by climate change, continuous population growth, urbanization, and inadequate investment in agriculture. Thus, the main theme of the fourth meeting is “Strengthening Regional Food Market”. Ministers would focus their discussions on three topics: “facilitation of market access, trade, and investment", "climate change and food security", and "urban and rural development", as they confer on food security cooperative strategies for the Asia-Pacific region.

Taiwan shared various innovative achievements on promoting food security response strategy

　　Taiwan had proposed 6 food security initiatives including APEC Food Emergency Response Mechanism, and Strengthening Public-Private Partnership to Reduce Food Losses during the first MMFS, and has made concrete contributions to food security in the Asia-Pacific region by organizing 11 seminars as well as expert consultation conferences. In this meeting Minister Tsao not only explained various accomplishments Taiwan has achieved on implementing the Strengthening Public-Private Partnership to Reduce Food Losses Multi-year Project, but also shared the efforts made in recent years on agricultural policies to deal with food security in response to climate change. All these efforts aimed to enhance continuous cooperation and fostered food security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Promoting agricultural cooperation to achieve win-win situation

　　Minister Tsao also held bilateral meetings with MMFS ministers and representatives to exchange views on APEC regional cooperation projects as well as crucial agricultural issues that is concerned by both sides, so as to further agricultural cooperation and exchange between Taiwan and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, creating win-win situation for all.