TFNet’s 16th Board of Trustees meeting was held at the Corus Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 21 October 2024. The meeting was chaired by Honorable Datuk Azah Hanim Ahmad, Deputy Secretary General (policy) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Malaysia, who represented the Board Chairperson. Attendees included country representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Fiji, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Vietnam. Associate members from CAB International and MARDI, along with an expert member, were also present, as well as observers from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Malaysia, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the TFNet Secretariat, led by Advisor Mr. Yacob Ahmad.
The board members discussed the progress report of TFNet from November 2023 to October 2024, covering activities and financial status. The meeting saw active engagement from board members on all agenda topics, focusing on strengthening TFNet’s mandate and relevance.
Key activities discussed included capacity-building workshops, webinars, international symposiums, consultancy projects like the Saudi Arabia tropical fruits project, and corporate communications updates. The board also explored ways to enhance TFNet’s membership status, particularly country membership, and to secure more consultancy projects for financial sustainability and resilience.
Meeting attendees:
- Honorable Datuk Azah Hanim Ahmad, Deputy Secretary General, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Malaysia – representing TFNet Board Chairperson Honorable Datuk Seri Isham Ishak, Secretary General Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Malaysia – Meeting Chairperson
- YI Ganjun – Board Vice Chair I, Vice President, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China – Country representative, China
- Shalendra Prasad – Board Vice Chair II, Director, Research & Agricultural Scientific Services Division,
Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways, Fiji
- Mohammad Sohail Mazhar – Senior Director Plant Industries, Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Northern Territory, Australia
- Mohd. Akhtar Hossein Khan, Chief Seed Technologist, Seed Wing, Department of Agriculture, Bangladesh
- Susanthi N. Chandrasena, Additional Secretary (Agriculture Development), Ministry of Agriculture and Plant Industries, Sri Lanka.
- Joel, L Adorada, Senior Agriculturist, Bureau of Plant Industry, Philippines
- Hassan M. Dinar, Professor, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia/Country representative for Sudan
- Nguyen Quoc Hung, Director General, Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute, Vietnam
- Maria Hernandez Lagana, Economist (EST), Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, Rome, Italy.
- Feng Zhang, Regional Director of Far East and Southeast Asia for CAB International, Beijing, China (Associate member)
- Mohd. Rashid Rabu – Director, Economics and Social Science Research Center, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute – representative for Director General, MARDI (Associate member)
- Datuk Dr. Mohd Roff Mohd. Noor – TFNet expert board member
- Yacob Ahmad, TFNet Advisor/ Representative for TFNet secretariat
- Ainul Maria – Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Malaysia – observer
- He Weidi, Fruit Tree Research Institute, GDAAS, China – observer.
