The 71st APRACA Executive Committee (EXCOM) meeting was convened at the Rose Garden Hotel, Tokyo, Japan on 06 June, 2019. The meeting was held in conjunction with the Regional Policy Forum on “Establishing Resilience against Climatic Shocks: Role of financial Institutions” in Asia-Pacific region which was held on the same day. The APRACA Executive Committee meeting was attended by delegates from 15 EXCOM member institutions of APRACA, Secretary General of APRACA, 51 observers from APRACA member institutions and three staff members of the APRACA General Secretariat. APRACA Chairman Mr. Senarath Bandara who is also the General Manager of Bank of Ceylon welcomed the participants of the meeting and congratulated all the executive committee members and observers present in the meeting for their participation in this important event at the capital city of Japan.

The JFC-APRACA regional policy forum was held on 6 June on ‘Establishing Resilience against Climatic Shocks: Role of Financial Institutions’ in Tokyo which was attended by 76 delegates and speakers representing 51 APRACA member institutions, government departments and international agencies. The regional forum focused to the role of the financial institutions and the areas of challenges and strong points related to establishing resilience among the farming communities under the current threats of climatic aberrations and the most discussed areas of interest to the global development agencies. Hon’ble Secretary Mr. Emmanuel F Pinol, Department of Agriculture, Government of Philippines invited the attention of the delegates on the roles of crop insurances in the Philippines and presented the topic on ‘Helping Farmers Cope with Climatic Shocks through Crop Insurance – The PLEA and SURE Programs’. Mr. Abdul Karim, Managing Director of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) said that Bangladesh recognized globally as most vulnerable spot to climatic aberration and need immediate action to provide solutions to the farming community to maintain their sustainable growth.

APRACA organized a 6-day learning and exposure visit programme for the Board members of Nirdhan Utthan Loghubitta Bittya Sanstha Ltd., Nepal, on their request. The programme was focused on Agricultural Value Chain Development and Finance in Thailand. The delegates visited the largest agricultural market in Southeast Asia and were impressed with the services provided by this Agricultural Marketing Cooperative (AMC).

The Expert workshop was co-organized by the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to develop 2 documents on “Guidelines for increasing access of small-scale fishers to insurance services” and “Guidelines for micro-finance and credit programmes in support of small-scale fisheries in Asia. The workshop served to discuss successful finance programmes in Asia for small-scale fishers, finalize practical guidelines in support of better access to financial services, and design a capacity building programme for increasing the provision of financial services to small-scale fisheries.

Dr. Prasun Kumar Das was invited by the Latin American Association of Development Financing Institutions (ALIDE) to join the 49th General Assembly and deliver presentation on future cooperation with the Latin-American financial institutions. The aim of his presentation is to examine the potential for the relations between the two regions in a context of tension produced by globalization, and the role of development finance institutions in advancing the bi-regional economic agenda for sustainable development.