The twelfth Annual Meeting of the Asian and Pacific Network for the Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ANTAM) was held from 9 to 11 December 2025 in Thimphu and Paro, Bhutan. The event was co-organized by the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which serves as the ANTAM secretariat, together with the Agriculture Machinery and Technology Centre (AMTC), Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Royal Government of Bhutan.

On 9 December, Hon. Dasho Thinley Namgyel, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock opened the meeting, delivering welcome remarks together with Mr. Yonten Gyamtsho, Director of the Department of Agriculture; Mr. Sangay Lhendup, ANTAM Chair for 2025, and a representative of the secretariat. The meeting saw the participation of ANTAM national focal points from 15 member countries. Delegates from the Bhutan Standards Bureau, who expressed positive views on the adoption of the ANTAM Codes in Bhutan, the Chair of the OECD Tractor Codes, and representatives of the Bhutanese private sector also attended the meeting. Türkiye was elected as Chair for 2026, with Viet Nam taking on the role of Vice-Chair for the same year.

The meeting examined the first applications for accreditation of testing stations received from five member countries, while it noted that four more countries were finalizing the necessary documentation and/or internal clearance process for their testing stations. The Annual Meeting agreed that a technical accreditation would be awarded by the secretariat upon completion of submission of all required documentation, and once a National Designated Authority (NDA) is appointed in the respective countries, the accreditation could be ratified by the Annual Meeting and become operational.

The meeting reviewed the fee structure across testing stations in participating countries, and discussed how testing fees can be used in support of ANTAM with the example of other international networks, such as OECD Tractor Codes and the European Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ENTAM). The meeting agreed that the secretariat will develop a testing fee system for accredited testing stations to award ANTAM certifications, which would be used to support the activities of the Network and the operations of the secretariat.

Following the recent discussions and guidance of the CSAM Governing Council on the significance of the application of new technologies to mechanization, the ANTAM delegates considered a series of presentations on the related work of the OECD Tractor Codes, including the sub-working groups on agricultural robots and electric tractors. It was highlighted that although the cost of new technologies is at the moment too high for most farmers in the region to adopt them, it is important to start addressing testing in relation to the new technologies, which foreseeably will become more affordable in the future for farmers or agricultural machinery cooperatives which provide rental services to farmers.

The delegates also conducted a field visit to the facilities of the Agriculture Machinery and Technology Centre, its Research Programme and Certification Programme, as well as the Bhutan Farm Machinery Corporation. During the field visit to AMTC, a demonstration on the Bhutan rice mill test code facilitated the discussion on the possible establishment of an ANTAM Technical Working Group for the harmonization of small rice mill test codes in the region.