Minister Tsung-hsien Lin of the Council of Agriculture (COA) led a delegation to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from February 28 through March 3, to attend the 19^th General Session of the African-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) Conference, where he discussed AARDO’s work plan and budget for the next three years with attending ministers from other member countries. Taiwan also successfully won the consecutive 2^nd term of the seat of the AARDO Executive Committee, showing that Taiwan’s contributions in assisting agricultural and rural development in the African-Asian region have received recognition from member countries.

　　The COA relates that AARDO was founded in 1962, and that currently there are 33 Members and one Associate Member. Taiwan joined AARDO in 1968 under the country’s formal name, the Republic of China, and has since been very active in the organization’s activitiesR.O.C. (Taiwan) has been elected as the member of the Executive Committee numerous times, and once held the vice-presidency. During the 2015-2017 term on the Executive Committee, Taiwan participated deeply in AARDO’s activities and held many agricultural activities as well as capacity-building programs within the country, receiving high praises from the AARDO Secretary-General and the various member nations. That Minister Lin on this occasion personally led the delegation to Malaysia to attend the General Session, which is held once every three years, demonstrates that Taiwan seriously takes the opportunity to have in-depth discussions with other members of AARDO about agricultural and rural development in the African-Asian region. During the Session, Minister Lin shared Taiwan’s experiences, winning approbation from the ministers and representativesin the house. Also, Taiwan received unanimous approval to continue to serve on the Executive Committee for the 2018-2020 term.

　　The 19^th General Sessionof AARDO Conference was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Since Malaysia is one of Taiwan’s important partner countries for agricultural aspects of the New Southbound Policy, Minister Lin took this opportunity to strengthen agricultural cooperation and communication with New Southbound Policy countries, including Malaysia and India. He alsovisited several supermarkets, including Cold Storage KLCC in Kuala Lumpur, to understand on-site the sales situation of agricultural products from Taiwan, such as pineapples and custard apples (also known as pineapple sugar apples). Under the arrangements made by Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, Minister Lin also met Taiwanese business leaders in Malaysia and visited successful agribusinesses located in the state of Johor, including All Cosmos Bio-Tech and DaChan, to understand their needs and to seek cooperation with local Malaysian companies, with an aim at deepenly implementing the New Southbound Policy.