On 11 June 1969, in Kawana (Japan), the Agreement establishing a Food and Fertilizer Technology Centre for the Asian and Pacific Region (FFTC) is signed — the treaty creating the intergovernmental agricultural-cooperation organisation.

Headquarters: Taipei. Current active members include Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand; Australia, Laos and New Zealand were earlier members.

The Centre publishes technical bulletins and promotes technology transfer for food production and fertilisation in Asia-Pacific amid the Green Revolution.

The text appears in Australian Treaty Series 1969 No. 15 and in international environmental-agreement databases.

For regional agricultural diplomacy, 11 June 1969 marks the institutionalisation of Asia-Pacific technical cooperation on food.

The agreement remains FFTC’s constitutive act.

The FFTC Agreement of 11 June 1969 remains the founding treaty of the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region.

Image: Asia-Pacific agriculture; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Food and Fertilizer Technology Center. Treaty text: Agreement establishing FFTC (AustLII ATS 1969 No. 15).