Following the election of several new members to the Board of CropLife Africa Middle East in 2010 an extended workshop was held on February 1-2, 2011 in Paris at Charles de Gaulles airport. Previous priorities established in 2009 in Milano were reviewed and challenged.

The new Board defined and agreed on the new Strategic Priorities for the association as presented below:

1.        Regulatory Matters including the Goal of Harmonization

Continue with the efforts to upgrade local regulatory systems
Promote and facilitate sub regional harmonization of regulatory systems
Advocate better enforcement of regulatory systems and the respect for IPR

Join and support efforts of CropLife International with its project "Principles of Regulations"

2.       Stewardship consisting of

• Integrated Pest Management (IPM) & Responsible Use
• Container Management
• Implementation of the International Code of Conduct
• Removal and Avoidance of Obsolete Stocks
• Effective Resistance Management

Roll-out of the CropLife IPM training
Promotion and integration of IPM concepts and principles with other training activities
Continuation of the Responsible Use Training together with external stakeholders
Introduction of locally adapted container management schemes wherever possible
Training and compliance monitoring on the International Code of Conduct

Support and engage in the avoidance and removal of obsolete stocks at regional and local level
Explore possibilities to remove obsolete stocks outside the ASP
Try to advance the issue with the newly created obsolete stocks during the last locust campaign Advocate effective resistance management strategies for all product groups

3.       Effective Use of Resources - National Association Management & Development

Carefully allocate limited resources and time with clearly defined priorities to respective countries
Train representatives of local associations to perform their manifold roles and duties better

Further strengthen cooperation and network with other stakeholders to reach target groups

4.       Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Anti Counterfeiting

Training and awareness building on the value and benefits of IPR across the entire region
Promotion of the concept of Data Protection (DP) for regulatory data of pesticides
Advocacy needed enforcement of IPR to create an enabling regulatory environment
Fact finding and awareness building on the problem of counterfeit pesticides
Communication campaigns to all stakeholders exposed to the threat of CF Pesticides
Promotion and implementation of suitable counter measures to fight CF Pesticides

5.       Communication and CropLife Brand and Image Building

Continue to make broad use of the core messages
Strengthen our advocacy activities at regional and in particular at local level

6.       Biotechnology

This objective and project will be pursued in close cooperation with the Biotech network