RECSEA-PGR is the Regional Co-operation in Southeast Asia for Plant Genetic Resources set up in December 1993.  Membership in the RECSEA-PGR is open to countries in Southeast Asia. Current members are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,  Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam. Other countries in Southeast Asia are invited to join.
Before RECSEA-PGR, RECSEA was a committee that was set up in 1977 by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR), the forerunner of Bioversity International previously known as the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), called the Regional Committee for Southeast Asia (IBPGR-RECSEA). Prior to 1975, collaborative activities on PGR were almost non-existent in the region. In 1975, a symposium on Southeast Asian Plant Genetic Resources was convened by FAO and SEAMEO BIOTROP in Indonesia. This symposium led the way to activities on PGR and raised the awareness and importance of PGR in the region. Subsequently, IBPGR-RECSEA was founded by IBPGR in 1977 to administer a regional co-operative programme for exploration, conservation, characterization, evaluation and documentation of PGR in the region. Until 1987, the IBPGR-RECSEA meetings were held once a year, when proposals for IBPGR funding were considered and funding allocated, and reports were made on status of ongoing activities. In this way, IBPGR-RECSEA could exert much influence in the region, and encouraged strong national programmes on PGR in the member countries and collaboration among the countries. In 1986, with the establishment of its South Asia and Southeast Asia office in Delhi, India, IBPGR decided to discontinue the regional committee. Prompted by Bioversity, the participants of IBPGR-RECSEA Committee decided, however, to continue with RECSEA with some funding by members to attend it’s meeting. In the 1993 meeting, which was sponsored by Bioversity, a firm commitment was made by the members to form a Regional Cooperative forum called RECSEA-PGR 

Chairpersons:

2009 –current     Chair of the Indonesia National Commission of Genetic Resources
2005 – 2009     Dr Patricio S. Faylon from the Philippines
2004 - 2005     Dr Patricio S. Faylon from the Philippines (interim)
2002 - 2003     Dr.Vichien Petpisit from Thailand*
2000 - 2002     Dr. Patricio S. Faylon from the Philippines
1999 - 2000     Dr. Crisanto R. Escano from the Philippines*
1997 - 1999     Dr. Mohamed Senawi bin Dato’ Mohamed Tamin from Malaysia
1993 - 1997     Dr. Achmad Soedarsan from Indonesia

Meetings

Dec 1993 Bogor, Indonesia
6-8 May 1997 Hanoi, Vietnam
7-8 Sep 1999 Sri Kembangan, Malaysia
14-15 Nov 2002 Los Banos, Philippines
5-6 Sep 2005 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
19-21 May 2009 Los Banos, Philippines