The 2nd International Conference on Biofertilizers and Biopesticides (B&B) kicked off on 8 August 2017 in Taichung, ROC. The conference is jointly organized by the APO, Council of Agriculture (COA) of the Executive Yuan, and China Productivity Center (CPC) and implemented by the Agricultural Technology Research Institute of the COA. COA Deputy Minister Dr. Chin-Cheng Huang attended the opening ceremony and delivered the inaugural address. Director-General Dr. Chih-Sheng Chang of the Department of Science and Technology and President Dr. Wen-Chuan Lee of the Agricultural Technology Research Institute presented welcome remarks on behalf of their organizations. Opening remarks were also given by Director Eugene Lin of the Integrated Business and Training Services Division, CPC, and Director Dr. Muhammad Saeed of the Agriculture Department, APO Secretariat. Later Dr. Saeed also made a presentation on Smart Agriculture and Future Food Systems for a Sustainable Future to update participants on new APO initiatives.

More than 200 professionals representing the B&B industry, academia, agricultural extension services, and practitioners from 11 APO member countries along with nine resource persons from Australia, the ROC, India, Malaysia, and Thailand, are attending. This conference is a follow-up to the first in 2016 on the same topic with the objectives of sharing recent initiatives in R&D and national regulations on B&B; discussing successful models of scaling up B&B applications; and formulating strategic action plans to accelerate cooperation among Asian countries for B&B development.