CIRDDAP’s 39 th Technical Committee meeting held in the historic and UNESCO heritage city of Melaka, Malaysia

The 39 th session of the CIRDAP Technical Committee meeting was held on 5 – 7 August 2024 in Melaka following a Rural Symposium held on 8th August in Putrajaya, Malaysia. The meeting was attended by 35 participants, including 14 CIRDAP member countries, the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the IRD expert, the representatives of national and international observers, and CIRDAP experts.

At the opening ceremony of the TC-39 meeting, YB DATUK HAJAH RUBIAH BINTI HAJI WANG, the Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development of Malaysia warmly welcomed the delegates and representatives. In her opening address, the deputy minister said that CIRDAP is internationally recognised for its role in promoting integrated rural development initiatives across the Asia and the Pacific region. She also stated that Malaysia hold a significant role within CIRDAP as one of the founding and active members in promoting integrated rural development across the region. As a part of the opening ceremony, the Aziz-ul-Haq award for 2024 was also organized.

As per the organization’s traditions, the host country, Malaysia, was elected Chair of the 39th Technical Committee. Dato’ Dr. Roslan bin Mahmood, Undersecretary, Strategic Planning Division, Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (MRRD), Malaysia, accepted the chairmanship of TC-39, and he chaired the meeting. The new chair thanked the CIRDAP Secretariat for preparing the meeting and again welcomed everyone to this historic and UNESCO heritage city of Melaka for the TC-39 Meeting. He said that Malaysia would support the CIRDAP secretariat and also wanted to collaborate strongly with all the CIRDAP member countries. He expressed that this meeting would become a successful meeting with fruitful and interactive discussions. 17 agendas were discussed in the meeting.

After the two days of successful meeting, the TC members visited Demang Abdul Ghani Gallery – a traditional rural house- in Kampung Merlimau Tengah, Merlimau, Melaka as a part of the field trip.