SEAFDEC holds its 2020 Department Chiefs’ Meeting

The SEAFDEC Departments Chiefs’ Meeting was convened on 3 December 2020 through Google Meet, and was attended by the SEAFDEC Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, the SEAFDEC Department Chiefs and senior officials from the Secretariat, TD, MFRD, AQD, MFRDMD, and IFRDMD. After discussing the follow-up actions to address the directives of the 52CM, 43PCM, and 23FCG/ASSP, the Meeting also noted the endorsement of the Resolution and Plan of Actions on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security for ASEAN Region Towards 2030 and that this document has already been uploaded to the SEAFDEC Repository. The Meeting was also informed that the SEAFDEC Secretariat plans to organize an online consultation in early 2021 for the development of a Roadmap for the adoption of the Resolution and Plan of Action which would be reported to the 53CM for consideration. For the information-related matters, the Meeting took note of the results of the 21^st Meeting of SEAFDEC Information Staff Program, especially on the issues that need to be considered by the concerned Departments, such as those related to the proposed Departmental Repository Self-service Hosting at AQD for the repositories of SEAFDEC Secretariat, TD and MFRDMD; and theme of SEAFDEC Calendar 2022. Meanwhile, the Meeting concurred with the other issues raised by the SEAFDEC Secretariat, such as those on the preparation of SEASOFIA 2020, and also the updated workplan of the Study on Impacts from Coronavirus-2019 Pandemic on Fisheries Sector of the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Member Countries.

In addition, the draft Provisional Agenda of the 53CM was also discussed, where the Departments were requested to provide comments and suggestions to the SEAFDEC Secretariat as soon as possible. The meeting was also informed of the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 (IYAFA 2022) declared by the United Nations, of which FAO is the lead agency for the celebration in collaboration with other relevant organizations. The Departments were therefore requested to provide their suggestions and ideas on the activities or events that could be undertaken related to this celebration.