CLOSING STATEMENT: CLOSING SESSION OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE ISHS WORKING GROUP ON POSTHARVEST TECHNOLOGY IN TROPICAL REGIONS

Let us look back to the objectives and purpose of this first ISHS meeting on Tropical Fruit in International Trade. These were:

• to bring together people with a common interest in the tropical fruit industry from both research, extension and commerce,
• to enable an exchange of information on the current state of the industry, research and technology transfer,
• to create a venue for the exchange of views and information flow as well as to establish and reaffirm professional contacts, and finally
• to develop ideas, and foster research and commercial strategies to facilitate the future growth of the industry.

I feel that we have achieved these objectives. The meeting has been attended by 114 participants from over thirty countries representing not only the major markets for tropical fruit namely North America, Europe and Japan but also most of the countries of supply including Australia, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Dominica, Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peoples Republic of China, Philippines, Republic of South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Trinidad.

With 46 papers and over 20 posters, the programme was divided into the following themes "International Market Opportunities", "Tropical Fruit Production-Genetic Resources", "Tropical Fruit Physiology", "Atmosphere Manipulation" and finally "Phytosanitary Requirements and Crop Management-Insect Pests".

Whilst the meeting focussed on the major tropical fruit including mango, papaya, avocado and pineapple; many interesting papers were also presented on the less well established fruit on the international market such as lychee, guava, durian, sugar apple, breadfruit and babaco.

Tropical and sub-tropical fruit are relatively new crops to both commerce and research. This meeting has therefore provided a venue to determine some of the priorities for future work. These include the evaluation and exchange of genetic resources, the development of appropriate pest and disease management strategies for tropical fruit, increasing the knowledge base of fruit physiology and thus fruit and environment management, and the establishment

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