Press Release
April 22, 2008

ANGARA SUPPORTS IRRI HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT
Outlines benefits to RP

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today expressed support for the ratification of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Headquarters Agreement emphasizing that it comes at a "most auspicious time" when the country is faced by rice crisis.

"The current rice situation, both local and global, calls for a concerted, multi-faceted, sustained and sustainable approach to providing solutions, not the least important of which is rice research," Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture, said.

He argued that the country need more of the strategic and highly beneficial research that IRRI has conducted to improve productivity, increase farmers' incomes, achieve rice self-sufficiency and attain food security.

According to Angara, former Agriculture secretary, the most important benefit enjoyed by the Philippines as host country to IRRI is in the highly productive collaborative projects between IRRI and government agencies involved in national rice program, such as the Department of Agriculture, the Philippine Rice Research Institute, the UP Los Baños and the Bureau of Plant Industry.

He added that IRRI's presence in the country provided our local researchers and academic institutions easier access to the Institute's rich research outputs and a wealth of information through direct linkage to IRRI library and Rice Knowledge Bank, the world's largest collection of literature on rice and first digital extension service, respectively.

Further accentuating IRRI's role in our national development, Angara noted that as of 2007, the Institute has trained 1,847 Filipino experts on rice, 171 with their MS and 80 with PhD degrees.

The Headquarters Agreement between the Philippines and IRRI will formalize the establishment of IRRI's headquarters in the Philippines and set the conditions, facilities, privileges and immunities accorded to the Institute. It was signed by the Department of Foreign Affairs in April 2006 and by PGMA in May 2006.

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