“Building Alliances Beyond Asia”

The 6th ALGOA Summit took place form the 12th October until the 16th. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the summit was organized virtually via Zoom and officially hosted in Goesan County, South Korea. The Summit received more than 400 registrants in 46 countries and areas from all over the world. More than 1,000 viewers joined the Facebook and YouTube live broadcast. Besides other topics the official lunch of the new Global Alliance of Organic Districts (GAOD) took place. Therefore every day break out sessions for the seven Work Groups were organized. OFSP members have partly organized the Summit and joined especially the Work Group 4 during the break out sessions, which deals with the following topics: Food processing, distribution, consumption. Food and nutrition security, quality and health. The outcomes of all seven Work Groups will be published during the next month.

,,Background of the 6thALGOA Summit

With the successful hosting of the “ALGOA+4 International Summit on Organic Agriculture Policy”in 2019, ALGOA has made great strides in forming global alliances across the world. On Feb 6th, 2020, in Rome, Italy, ALGOA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Network of Eco-regions, supported by IFOAM-Organics International, IFOAM Asia, IFOAM EU, the Baltic Foundation of Lithuania and the members of the Organic Food System Program for future cooperation. In the same month, IFOAM Asia also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with New Taipei City, outlining the details of the establishment and activities of the ALGOA Center for Public Procurement (ACPP), marking the start of the expansion of ALGOA work through the establishment of specific Centers with partners in different countries in Asia. On April 15th, the signers of the MoU in February invited other organizations such as Regeneration International, League of Organic Municipalities, Cities and Provinces of the Philippines (LOAMCP-PH), etc. and in the ensuing discussions, the Global Alliance of Organic Districts (GAOD)was born.

Rationale for the theme of the 6thALGOA Summit “Building Alliances Beyond Asia”

The theme of this year’s Summit is an output of the 2019 international conference and is based on the progress for GAOD already made in the first half of 2020.The networking efforts will be further consolidated through cooperation and membership in various international like-minded organizations such as 4pour1000. Consensus has been reached among the relevant stakeholders to have the inauguration of the Global Alliance of Organic Districts (GAOD) at the upcoming Summit. Therefore the offical launch of GAOD was also one important part of the Summit. Furthermore keynote speeches and the official launch of Asian Organic innovation and Technology Platform were part of the programme.

Special Characteristics of the 6thALGOA Summit

The Summit is a concerted action between Asian Local Governments for Organic Agriculture (ALGOA), International Network of Eco-Regions (IN.N.E.R.), Regeneration International (RI), and the League of Organic Agriculture Municipalities, Cities and Provinces-Philippines and is supported by IFOAM-Organics International, IFOAM Asia, IFOAM EU, Baltic Foundation of Lithuania and Organic Food System Programme. “

Reference:

Asia IFOAM bio (18.09.20) available online at: https://asia.ifoam.bio/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/6th-ALGOA-Summit-Program.pdf