DPR Korea hosts international potato meeting

Participants in the symposium in front of the People's Palace of Culture, Pyongyang

Twenty potato scientists from northeast, southeast and south Asia met with their North Korean counterparts during an International Scientific Symposium on Potato held at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) 22-24 July, 2007.

Jointly organized by the DPRK’s Academy of Agricultural Sciences (AAS) and the International Potato Center (CIP), the Symposium aimed:

· to review the state of the art on key aspects of potato production and utilization in order to guide research and development toward overcoming constraints while reducing the negative impact of intensifying potato cultivation in East and South East Asia (ESEA)
· to update potato scientists on research and development opportunities for the potato crop in ESEA and
· to establish collaborative links among potato research and development scientists towards increased horizontal exchange of knowledge and methodologies for sustainable potato production and utilization in the region. 

Participants included research staff from AAS and representatives from Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam. The foreign delegates were led by Dr. Fernando Ezeta, CIP-ESEAP regional leader, and Dr. Fengyi Wang, CIP’s DPRK Special Project Coordinator.

The Symposium covered country updates from the region and from collaborative projects, as well as more technical discussions on potato breeding, seed production, cultivation, pests and diseases. A visit was also made to the AAS tissue culture lab, the basic seed potato plant, and exhibition house.

The Symposium also provided opportunity for a quick expert review of training manuals for late blight and bacterial wilt of potato. This is part of a joint activity, by UPWARD and CIP’s Integrated Crop Management Division, in adapting CIP training products for use in different Asian agro-ecologies.

The Symposium ended with a note of optimism for cooperation in potato research in the region. As Dr. Ezeta noted, “Potato has once again brought together people and nations.”