The 13th Session of the CSAM Governing Council was held in Kathmandu on 13 December 2017, and attended by all 9 members, namely Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

The GC expressed appreciation to CSAM for the progress achieved by the Centre in 2017 for implementing its programmes towards promoting sustainable agricultural mechanization in the Asia-Pacific region. It also commended the Centre for the success achieved in mobilizing additional resources including in-kind contributions from national and regional stakeholders for execution of its activities and events.

The Governing Council expressed appreciation to the Government of China, as CSAM’s host country, for its financial contributions towards supporting the operational and programmatic costs of the Centre. The Council also expressed appreciation to member countries who have provided valuable financial contribution to CSAM and to Japan for its contribution for the Asian and Pacific Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ANTAM) project of CSAM. The Governing Council noted the importance of diversifying CSAM’s resource base and encouraged the Centre to strengthen efforts to mobilize additional resources from, and strengthen partnerships with, a broader range of countries and stakeholders.

The Governing Council noted the need for CSAM to focus its efforts on SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), and also recommended that wherever possible, CSAM can leverage opportunities to contribute to other SDGs through its work on sustainable agricultural mechanization such as SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) in accordance with CSAM’s mandate.

The GC provided a number of recommendations for further development of CSAM’s programmes on sustainable agricultural mechanization. It endorsed the Centre’s work report and financial status report for 2017, proposed work plan for 2018 and the Centre’s updated draft midterm development strategy (2017-2019).