The Tenth Session of the Governing Council (GC) of the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) was held on 16 December 2014 at Bangkok, Thailand. Governing Council members from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in the meeting. 

Mr. Shun-ichi Murata, Deputy Executive Secretary of ESCAP, delivered an opening statement. While recognizing the remarkable progress that the Centre has achieved in 2014 in implementing its programme of work and in mobilizing resources to support its activities, Mr. Murata elaborated that amid challenges, CSAM could play a more strategic role in tackling poverty in the Asia-Pacific in the post-2015 development process. CSAM should continue to diversify its programme of activities, and deliver better services by tapping into its comparative advantages. Mr. Murata stressed that the success of the Centre relied on broader partnership with various stakeholders, and appealed for continued support including voluntary financial contribution from member countries. Dr. Ravi Ratnayake, Director of Trade and Investment Division of ESCAP, commended the achievements of Centre, particularly implementation of flagship projects in 2014, such as the Regional Forum on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization, the Asian and Pacific Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ANTAM), and the building of a regional database on agricultural mechanization. Dr. Ravi encouraged CSAM to continue its efforts to design and deliver projects with long-term impact among member countries.

The GC endorsed the Report of the 10th Session of the Technical Committee of CSAM and the Centre’s work plan for 2015. The GC suggested CSAM to design pilot projects to demonstrate good practices of sustainable agricultural mechanization to member countries as follow-up to thematic workshops and seminars. It requested that CSAM continue exploring collaboration with NGOs, the academia and various other stakeholders to mobilize resources, and to increase publicity. It also requested the Centre to make its website more dynamic and interactive to effectively facilitate information exchange. The GC members thanked the Government of China for its continued support to the operation of the Centre, expressed deep appreciation to member countries which provided valuable in-kind contribution to and assistance in organizing programme activities of the Centre in 2014.

The GC agreed in principle that the eleventh session of the Governing Council will be held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2015.