On 23^rd November 2020, the 6^th Member Meeting of the Regional Council of Agricultural Machinery Association in Asia and the Pacific (ReCAMA) was held virtually.

The Regional Council of Agricultural Machinery Associations (ReCAMA) is a flagship project of the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) with aims to promote sustainable agricultural mechanization in Asia and the Pacific through strengthening the capacity of national agricultural machinery associations, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and information, and enhancing collaboration and closer business connections among national associations and their members.

To date, ReCAMA has 21 Member associations from 15 countries. ReCAMA is a key initiative for scaling-up the availability, adoption and sustainable use of agricultural machinery at the regional level through a demand-driven model closely involving the private sector. This initiative is hence directly supportive of SDG 2 (ending hunger and malnutrition), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 17 (enabling global partnership for sustainable development) among other SDGs.

In accordance with the Terms of Reference of ReCAMA, a Member Meeting is convened once a year to discuss and make decisions on matters pertinent to the Council’s operations and development.

At the 6th Member Meeting of ReCAMA, the Agribusiness Machinery Association in Cambodia (AMAC) was admitted as a new member of ReCAMA, and the Association of Indonesian Agriculture Machinery and Thai Society of Agricultural Engineering were elected as the new Chair and Vice-Chair Associations of ReCAMA for 2020-2021. The 6th Member Meeting also reviewed and endorsed the work report of ReCAMA in 2020 and work plan for 2021.

Two lead experts shared the findings and outcomes of research papers on trade and investment as well as market status developed under ReCAMA. In addition, CSAM introduced its initiative titled the ‘Asian and Pacific Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery’ (ANTAM) and its recent survey which has pertinent linkages to the needs of agricultural machinery associations. In the context of the adverse situation arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the meeting proposed to enhance collaboration to minimize the impact of the pandemic on the agricultural sector in the Asia-Pacific region and highlighted the role of sustainable agricultural mechanization in addressing these impacts and building resilience. The Meeting also agreed to explore opportunities for synergy between the work of ReCAMA and the Corporate Social Responsibility efforts of network members in the coming period.

In total, over 30 association representatives from 12 countries attended the 6^th Member Meeting of ReCAMA.