This two-week training workshop (August 17-28, 2015) was attended by 19 plant pathologists from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The goal of the training workshop is to develop capacity among plant virologists across the ASEAN region in addressing plant virus diseases existing in each country and those which pose potential threats (emerging or invasive) in the exchange of crops or planting materials.

Plant virologists working in universities, research institutions and plant quarantine and plant protection offices will be provided with basic knowledge on disease identification, disease detection and characterization using available tools and techniques (symptomatology, transmission, serology and molecular assay).

The training course comprised of interactive lectures (14), laboratory practical sessions (14), demonstration activity (1) and 2-day field visit to Southern and Central Luzon areas.

Five sessions namely: Introduction, Plant viruses of agricultural crops, Transmission of common plant viruses, Detection of plant viruses using serological and molecular assays and Strategies of protecting crops from viruses were designed to cover the basic plant virology course.

Pre- and post-evaluations were also administered to assess the individual and over-all performances of participants as well as to determine the efficiency of the training or organizing team.