The 27th Session of the FAO Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in Southwest Asia (SWAC) commenced in Istanbul, Pakistan 25 January 2011 opened by His Excellency Nazar Mohammad Gondal, Hon. Minister of Food and Agriculture. Meeting delegates include the four Member Countries, Afghanistan, India, Iran and Pakistan, as well as the FAO Secretaries from SWAC and Central Region Commission. The Commission is a mechanism that allows countries to collaborate and cooperate on technical issues involving Desert Locust early warning and control in order to prevent the development of locust upsurges and plagues. Although locust outbreaks do occur from time to time, the most recently this past summer and autumn along the Indo-Pakistan border, we have seen that they been controlled successfully in this Region, thereby preventing the development of swarms within the Region and migration to the Central Region. The role of FAO, as a neutral technical agency supporting its member countries, contributes to the 27th session agenda of open dialogue to review, discuss and decide on important technical issues that involve Desert Locust reporting, early warning, training, joint surveys and new technologies. (posted 25 January 2011, for more information on FAO Locust work see http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts