An international seminar was organized in collaboration with COA, Taiwan; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan; National Taiwan University; and Academia Sinica, Taiwan, on 18-21 December 2018 at Academia Sinica, Taipei. A total of 134 paticipants from eleven countries (Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Iran, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand) of Asia-Pacific participated. APAARI sponsored ten speakers/panelists for the seminar.
Opening remarks were presented by Dr. James C. Liao, President, Academia Sinica, Taiwan; Dr. Junne-Jih Chen, Director General, Taiwan; Agricultural Research Institute, COA, Taiwan; Mr. Cheng-Maw Shih, Minister of Department International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Taiwan; Dr. Ta-De Lin, Vice President, National Taiwan University, Taiwan; and Dr. Ravi Khetarpal, Executive Secretary, APAARI, Thailand. The key topics of the seminar included policies and regulation of bioresources in Asia-Pacific, prospecting and application of bioresources in the region, application of CRISPER/Cas9 in bioresources, and commercialization of bioresources in Taiwan. In addition, a technical tour to Tea Research Station, Taoyua, Taiwan, and Agricultural Technology Research Institute, Hsin Chu, Taiwan, were also organized.
