Cooperation with International Organizations

The International Scientific Cooperation Bureau (ISCB) establishes partnerships with international organizations through multilateral activities, helping Canada and AAFC meeting their international obligations.

Procinorte

Procinorte is a Cooperative program in research and technology for North American countries (Canada, United-States and Mexico) that aims to strengthen the capacity of the three countries to carry out agricultural research and technology transfer through exchanges and partnership in a cost effective way. This program is under the leadership of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.

Joint initiatives are managed through task force. Two task forces related to science are active at the present time: Genetic Resources and Tropical and Subtropical Fruits and a new one is under development.

i. Procinorte
Special Task Force on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Norgen)

Norgen was initiated in 1999 to develop a focal point for genetic resource program within Canada, US and Mexico and to facilitate exchange of information under the umbrella of Procinorte (Northern Region Countries). The International Plant Genetic Resource Institute under FAO has also participated. The task force has been meeting yearly to review, discuss, and develop actions relative to genetic resources issues. The objectives are:

  1. Encourage communication and collaboration,
  2. Training and education,
  3. Integration with other genetic resources networks in the Americas,
  4. Develop project of interest to the 3 countries,
  5. Encourage reciprocal participation of national experts,
  6. Establish contact with other task forces, and
  7. Support the development of an integrated plant genetic resources system in Mexico.

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ii. Procinorte Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
Task Force on Tropical and Subtropical Fruits

The first meeting was held in 2002 in Washington with representatives from Mexico and the US respectively. This event allowed us to set up the goals, the general objective. The following year representatives met in Nova Scotia, Canada. Ten scientists (AAFC network) participated and exchanged with the task force.

In 2004, during a trip in Mexico, two scientific seminars were organized, as well as industrial visits. There were exchanges on methodologies and instrumentation to measure quality attributes, data capture, data and traceability which is a global challenge.

This small, but significant task force, can play a significant role in joint advisory, combining strategic research experts or expertise, than reinforcing the decision making process, not only in marketing information for Canada but also abroad. By better understanding the foreign food supply chain, we can better secure our own, preventing unsafe and contaminated raw or processed commodities.

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