Recently, the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture (Joint FAO/IAEA Centre) organized the Second Workshop on Plant Mutation Breeding Network for Asia Pacific (MBN) – Expansion to Africa, Europe and Latin America, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria. More than 30 experts on plant mutation breeding from 22 member countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, North Macedonia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as the Acting Section Head of Plant Breeding and Genetics and Head of Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory from Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, attended the meeting. Mr. Ge Deng, Director of Division for Asia and the Pacific of the Department of Technical Cooperation IAEA, and Ms. Dongxin Feng, Director of the FAO/IAEA Joint Centre, attended the opening ceremony. Prof. Luxiang Liu, Executive Director General of Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chairman of the Mutation Breeding Network, chaired the Workshop.

The participants presented country progresses reports and potential collaboration opportunities. During the meeting, Prof. Luxiang Liu was re-elected as the Chairman of MBN to serve another three years (2024-2026); China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and Japan were elected as members of the Steering Committee. Seven countries from Europe, Africa, and Latin America are selected to join the MBN, including Brazil, Bulgaria, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, and North Macedonia, and establish the Plant Mutation Breeding Network+ (MBN+). All of the member countries would jointly promote and facilitate international cooperation and exchanges in plant mutation breeding. The Secretariat of MBN+ is located at the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre. The participants also discussed and updated the framework of MBN+ cooperation (2024-2026), and clarified the follow-up goals, tasks, and work plans of MBN+.

It is reported that the MBN is technically supported by the IAEA, and the regional member countries voluntarily join in. It was firstly proposed in Bali Island, Indonesia in 2017. During the International Symposium on Plant Mutation Breeding and Biotechnology in 2018, further discussions were held on the feasibility and necessity of establishing such a collaborative network. The Consultants Meeting for the Implementation of a Pilot Mutation Breeding Network for the Asia Pacific Region was held at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna in May 2019; from 22-25 July 2019, the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences organized the First Workshop on Plant Mutation Breeding Network for Asia Pacific in Jingzhou, Hubei, and formed the "Jingzhou Proposal", which stated China, Indonesia, and India as members of the MBN Steering Committee, with Prof. Luxiang Liu from China as the First Chair.