The 7th CGIAR System Council Meeting hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was held on November 15-16, 2018 in Seattle, USA. JIRCAS Pres. Masa Iwanaga attended the meeting with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Agriculture of Japan. The CGIAR System Board of Directors gathers representatives and officers from the Secretariat and the Board of Directors, and discusses and exchanges ideas for future strategies and systems of CGIAR and its 15 international agricultural research institutions.

About 70 people from all over the world participated in this conference, and active discussions were held to promote CGIAR's agricultural research activities more effectively and efficiently. On the second day, Mr. Bill Gates attended and talked about agricultural research being important in ensuring food security for the future and expecting CGIAR to make a significant contribution in this area.