Friday, April 3, 2009

Meeting with ECHO and FORESTA

On April 03, 2009 there was a meeting with Mr. Rick Burnette, Regional Director for ECHO Asia and Mr. Bob Morikawa, director of Foresta from Thailand. The meeting was taken place in CEDAC Office in Phnom Penh from 11:00 AM to 12:00 AM and then from 1:00PM to 2:30PM. The purpose of the visitors is to seek for more understanding about CEDAC's work in Cambodia and to cooperate with each other in term of agriculture and rural development.

During the meeting, Mr. YIM Sok Sophors presented about CEDAC work included the six main components of CEDAC and then more detail on CEDAC Field Program. At the afternoon, there was a in-depth interview and discussion on the topic of SRI extension in Cambodia. The historical background of SRI extension in Cambodia was raised to present as well as the strategy and methodology to widespread SRI throughout the country. It is to note that SRI is now the national program of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).

As the result, Mr. Rick Burnette would like to organize a study tour from Thailand to visit CEDAC in Cambodia in order to learn more detail about CEDAC's experiences and he also would like to cooperate with CEDAC to produce EAN newsletter in Khmer translation. Now, the process is being progressed.