8th
General Conference of AARINENA,
Amman-Jordan,
26-28May, 2002
Summary
of the Recommendations and Conclusions
The General Conference agreed on the following:
Election
Of New Executive Committee
Decisions
Taken by the Executive Committee
Election
of the Chairman, Rapporteur
& Nomination Officer of the meeting & Adoption of the Agenda
AARINENA
Activities Report
International
Organizations Presentations
Financial
and Administration Issues
The Newly Elected Executive five Committee members are:
Date
and Venue of the 9th General Conference of AARINENA
Decisions
Taken by the Executive Committee
·
The Date Palm Network, AARINENA shall merge its efforts
within the initiative of the Global Network established by U.A.E University with
the collaboration of FAO, thus avoiding duplication of activities in the region.
The seat of the Date Palm Secretariat would be located in UAE.
·
To establish a Network based on Commodity Chain
Approach, it is recommended that, AARINENA would include it in its program of
work and allocate a budget for the establishment of Olive (oil and crop)
Network.
·
AARINENA shall establish a network for Herbal and
Medicinal Plant with the collaboration of IPGRI.AARINENA would be involved in
the expert consultation meeting that is going to be held on this subject in
Tehran 2003.
·
Concerning RAIS- AARINENA need to renew contacts with
the Cosponsors and International Organizations for technical & financial
support.
-
Every country member should nominate a focal point and design its own web
page AARINENA would request the financial support of GFAR, FAO and ICARDA to
help every member country to design its own web page. FAO would also be
requested to help countries of WANA in the arabazation of their website (2
versions: Arabic and English).
-
In the second phase, a steering committee should be formed to ensure a
close contact with all NARS and stakeholders in the region in order to get up to
date information.
-
A workshop would be organized by AARINENA, GFAR, FAO, ICARDA on sub
regional and national information system during the period of November/December
2002 in Tehran, Iran or Cairo, Egypt.
-
Country Representatives should work on officially signing the
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
prepared by FAO.
-
The Conference endorsed and adopted all the recommendations taken during
the CWANA Consultation Meeting for Agricultural Priority Settings held at ICARDA
on May 8-10 2002.
-
It was recommended that the workplan and budget revision would reflect
the financial support of the cosponsors provided in accomplishing cooperative
activities with the Association
· Concerning AARINENA Constitution, all the amendments on General Rules of Procedures discussed during Malta
Executive Committee Meeting were approved and adopted.
·
The seat of AARINENA shall be moved to Jordan, the
NCARTT would host the secretariat for four years. The Secretary shall be a full
time officer working along with the President. The Executive secretary would
handle the trust fund and manage the financial affairs. The conference suggested
that the Executive Committee would take the final decision concerning this issue
after requesting the support from ICARDA and FAO.
·
Any new changes in the Constitution should be written
and distributed to all country member representatives at least 60 days before
the next General Conference in order to be adopted.
·
The sub regional representatives would be elected among
the country representatives of the concerned sub region and during the General
Conference, the President and Vice President would be elected among the five
elected sub regional representatives.
·
The General Conference did not agree on increasing the
subscription fees for member countries.
The Conference elected the following Executive
Committee Members:
1.
Dr. Abdel Nabi Fardous (Mashreq Sub-region), President,
2.
Dr.Mohamed Roozitalab (West Asia Sub-region), Vice-President,
3.
Dr.Ahmad Nasser Al Bakri (Arabian Peninsula), Member
4.
Dr. Fawzi Naim Mahrous (Nile Valley & Red Sea), Member.
5.
Dr. Taher Azzabi (Maghreb subregion), Member.
The place and date of the 9th General
Conference will be held in Oman during the first half of April 2004.
The
newly elected executive committee met at the end of the conference and took the
following decisions:
1.
Trust Fund: It was decided that the trust fund accounts to stay at
FAO/RNE office for the next six months. Then the president will request from
FAO/RNE Assistant Director General and Regional Representative for the Near East
to transfer the balance of the fund to FAO/Amman office.
2.
Executive Secretary: The committee reviewed several applications for the
post of the executive secretary and selected Mr. Ra’ed Badwan from Jordan as
the secretary who was asked to work on full- time basis.
3.
Work-plan & Budget: The committee reviewed the program of work and
agreed to establish a network on olive oil and a network on herbal and medicinal
plants in collaboration with IPGRI. It also planned to organize sub-regional
workshop on the priorities of cooperation mechanism.
4.
Next Executive Committee meeting will be held in Oman in December, 2002.
Opening
Session
The 8th General
Conference of AARINENA was held in Amman, Jordan during the period of 26 to 28th
of May 2002, under the auspices of His Excellency Dr. Mahmud Duwayri, the
Minister of Agriculture in Jordan. The Conference was cosponsored by FAO
Regional office in the Near East, ICARDA and ISNAR in Collaboration with the
National Center for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer in Jordan
(NCARTT).
Institution representatives from sixteen member
countries attended the conference: Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria and
Yemen Representatives of Regional and International organizations also
participated in the conference: ACSAD, AOAD, CIRAD, FAO, ICARDA and ISNAR,
(Annex I).
The opening session of the
Conference started with the statement by the president of AARINENA Dr.
Moustafa Yaghi welcoming the attendance and thanking the Government of
Jordan, the Minister of Agriculture and the director of NCARTT for hosting the 8th
General Conference Of AARINENA. Then he highlighted the main activities and
achievements of AARINENA during the last two years such as Regional and
International meetings in Washington, Dresden, Rome, Durban and Kuwait, and the
priority setting meeting’s organized by ICARDA. He stressed on the need to
strengthen the secretariat of the association and the necessity of collaboration
between the executive committee members by sharing the participation in the
regional and international meetings.
Dr.
Sami Sunna representing ISNAR being a member of its board of trustees
stated that ISNAR has continuous interaction and collaboration with AARINENA and
other Agricultural Regional Fora for research and development. He indicated that
it is in the framework of ISNAR to support AARINENA by implementing project on
biosafety and by providing publications and information notes.
Dr. Habib Halila represented the Director General of ICARDA
confirmed ICARDA commitment to support AARINENA as a cosponsor and as a partner
in promoting collaboration in agricultural research among the countries of West
Asia and North Africa. The main accomplishment of collaboration between ICARDA
and AARINENA were the review study on the status of NARS in WANA, in
collaboration with FAO and CIHEAM, in addition to the priority settings for
agriculture in the region, which resulted from holding five consecutive sub
regional meetings.
Dr. Ahmad El Miniawy presented the statement of the Regional
Representative of FAO Regional office in the Near East, he stated that FAO took
the initiative in the establishment of AARINENA and supported the Association by
hosting its secretariat and its trust fund since its inception 1985. He pledged
that FAO would continue providing technical assistance and support to AARINENA
activities. He stressed that the association need a full time executive
secretary and urged member countries to commit funding for its daily operation
on a regular a basis to ensure its sustainability.
Dr. M. Duwayri,
the Minister of Agriculture welcomed the participants and expressed his
happiness of holding the 8th General Conference of AARINENA in
Jordan. He highlighted the problem of food security in the World in general and
the Near East Region in particular. He stressed the need to increase
productivity of the agricultural sector in this region that has limited water
and land resources and emphasized the importance of agricultural research in
facing these constraints.
Election of the Chairman, Rapporteur & Nomination Officer of the meeting & Adoption of the Agenda
The Conference elected Dr. Abdel Nabi Fardous as Chairman of the meeting, Dr. Christo Hilan as a Rapporteur and
Dr.
Cristakis Papochristoforou
as a Nomination officer.
The
agenda of the meeting was amended then adopted by the conference as shown in
Annex II.
AARINENA
activity report was presented by Dr. C.
Hilan the executive secretary. An organigram of the Association was
displayed showing the best and most efficient way for collaboration between NARS
leaders in a country, country representative, sub regional representative, the
president and the secretary.
A detailed
list of activities was presented namely: AARINENA secretariat, constitutional
amendments, date palm network proposal, Post harvest workshop, regional priority
settings for Agriculture and the main international, regional and sub regional
meeting of the President and Executive Committee members.
The date palm network was discussed. Noting that UAE
University established a global network with the collaboration with FAO. It
suggested that AARINENA should merge its effort in this initiative thus avoiding
duplication of activities in the region.
Dr. Roozitalab
recommended the establishment of Herbal and medicinal plants network as these
plants are considered under-utilized crops. It was suggested that AARINENA
should collaborate with IPGRI to establish this network. An expert consultation
meeting on the subject is going to be held on 2003 in Tehran.
The
FAO legal officer Mr.
Jean Pierre Chiaradia Bousquet presented the rules of Procedure for
AARINENA. All the amendments concerning the rules of procedure that was
discussed during the Executive Committee meeting in Malta were approved and
adopted by the conference (Annex III).
It
was also agreed to change the seat of the Association and move it to Jordan who
would host the secretariat for 4 years. The legal officer reminded the
participants that any changes in the constitution should be written and
distributed at least 60 days before the next General Conference as per Article
XV (Amendments to the constitution). According to the new rules of procedure
that was adopted, the legal officer indicated that each sub-region shall elect
one representative from each sub region among the country representatives. Then,
the General Conference would elect the president and vice- president among these
elected sub-regional representatives.
The
Executive Committee sub regional representatives presented the Sub Regional
activities.
·
Dr.
Youssef El Shayji, representing the Arabian Peninsula Sub-Region,
presented the outputs and recommendation of the International Conference on
Biotechnology Application for Arid Region (ICBAAR), and the priority settings
for research in the region, which was approved during the sub regional
brainstorming meeting, organized by ICARDA and AARINENA.
·
Professor
Anthony Scicluna-Spiteri, representing the Maghreb Sub-Region,
listed the main activities conducted during his involvement as Executive
Committee member.
He
stated his views and comments on how the association should fulfill its
expectations as a regional body in the world. There should be an adequate
membership and leadership, a fulltime secretary and a better planning and
programs.
·
Dr.
Ismail Muharram, representing the Nile Valley and Red Sea
Sub-Region, made a presentation on his active participation in AARINENA
Executive Committee meetings and other related AARINENA issues.
·
Dr.
M. Roozitalab, representing the West and Central Asian
Sub-Region, made two presentations.
-
The first was about the sub regional collaboration in West Asia, between
Iran and Pakistan and Turkey, mainly on Yellow Rust Conference and Network with
the support of international organizations, the exchange of research scientists,
training workshops on Sugar Beets and Mango, animal diseases, rapeseed
production, exchange of technology and experiences in cotton, olive, fisheries,
dry land agriculture and traveling workshop on sustainable wheat production with
the CAC countries and the support of ICARDA.
-
The second presentation was on the main decisions and recommendations
taken during the 11th GFAR-SC meeting in Rome. The most important
point is that AARINENA was elected by the Regional Fora to represent them for
two years in the Executive Council of CGIAR. The GFAR-SC has adopted three
proposals for global partnerships based on commodity chains, direct sowing and
global framework on unimproved crops. The new GFAR projects are: Promoting
Sustainable Development in Southern AR System, Development of RAIS and
Strengthening the Partnership of Farmer Organization, NGOs, and Universities.
The CGIAR adopted three challenge programs: - Water in agriculture, global
genetic resources and agricultural technology to improve the health.
The next General
Conference of GFAR would be held in 2003 at Dakar, Senegal.
·
Mrs.
Taraneh Ebrahimi, RAIS Secretariat made presentation on AARINENA- RAIS
activities: AARINENA Executive Committee approved Iran proposal for hosting RAIS
secretariat during Tehran meeting on Dec. 2001, Ms. Ibrahimi has been officially
assigned by NARS, IRAN as RAIS secretary. She has designed a main page for
AARINENA Website, in collaboration with GFAR, where one can find the general
information concerning the Association, its publications, news and link. In the
database file one can find the management information system, the monitoring of
Agricultural Research and development in the region, the regional NARIs
database, database on Regional /Sub Regional Research network, projects and
papers, and Economic and Statistical database.
The
main problems are: the lack of finance for distributing the network, the
incomplete information for filling out the web page and the communication with
the different NARS of the regions. It was recommended to renew contact with
cosponsors of AARINENA and International organizations for technical and
financial support, to nominate a country focal point and design a web page for
each country member. In the second phase, the steering committee would be formed
to ensure a close contact with all NARS and stakeholders in the region in order
to get up to date information.
FAO,
ICARDA and GFAR would be officially requested by AARINENA to help every country
member to design its own web page. FAO would also help in the arabazation of the
Web site.
A
workshop will be organized by AARINENA/GFAR/FAO/ICARDA on sub regional and
national information system during the period of November/December 2002 in
Tehran/Iran or Cairo/Egypt.
International
Organizations Presentations
·
Dr.
Christian Hoste from CIRAD, made a presentation on contribution of the
French scientific community on Building up the Mediterranean Agriculture
Research Area and the Cooperation between French Institutions and AARINENA. He
pointed out the recent initiatives done by AARINENA (Strategy for the Future,
Vision 2025, Framework for Action 2000-2005, the dialogue with EFARD, GFAR
meetings, the establishment of the RAIS and the collaboration with FAO/GFAR
(Post harvest symposium) and ICARDA (Priority Settings for Agricultural
Research), the Mediterranean conference on Agricultural Research Cooperation
between INRA/NAGREF and the Establishment of a regional observatory on
agriculture and agri-food policies and the Euro Mediterranean zone in the
agricultural and agri-food sectors done by CIHEAM.
He
indicated that the support from the French Agricultural Research Community to
the region was mainly on: Thematic areas for cooperation based on the regional
priorities, national and regional strategy, on increased coordination between
ministries and research institutions and active participation to the regional
networks with ACSAD, CIHEAM. ESCORENA and ICARDA.
·
Dr. A.
Maddur FAO Agricultural Research Officer made a presentation on the
agreement of FAO/FARA requesting similar arrangement for AARINENA. He explained
the international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
prepared by FAO on a basis of global treaty on agro biodiversity.
He urged the country representatives to act on signing this treaty
officially.
The objective of the treaty is the conservation and sustainable use of
plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable
sharing of benefits derived from their use. The multilateral system applies to
more than 60 plants genera, which include 64 major crops and forages. The treaty
provides for payment of an equitable share of the monetary benefits derived from
the commercialization of a product that uses plant genetic resources from the
system. Each country will need to develop its own legislation or regulation to
implement the new treaty, 40 governments have already ratified it.
· Dr. A. Belaid from ICARDA, made a presentation on Agricultural Priority Settings in CWANA. He discussed the specific objectives and the expected outputs of the process. His report was based on the finding of the questionnaires fulfilled by various stockholders and on the outcome and recommendations of the five sub regional brainstorming meetings held between September 2001 and January 2002. The CWANA consultation meeting took place on 8-10 May, 2002 at ICARDA and a draft of the main priorities was identified. They fall into five clusters: 1) Germplasm Management 2) Natural Resource Management 3) Socio Economics & Policies 4) Cross Cutting Issues and 5) Methodologies & Approaches. Germplasm was further desegregated into 3 clusters: crops, animals and fisheries. The following have been identified as specific challenges to the region: Desertification, Mountain production systems and Drought irrigation.
It was finally recommended to include the CWANA as the third geographic
priority region of the CGIAR in order to increase the level of CGIAR resources
allocated to the CWANA Region, assess the existing partnerships, strengthen
AARINENA and CAC-NARS Forum, enhance CG centers involvement in the region and
expand the mandate of ICARDA to include dry land fruit trees and dry land oil
crops. It was also recommended to
review existing network between AARINENA and CAC forum facilitated by ICARDA.
Coordinating meetings would be held every two years on sub regional level
and every four years on regional level under the auspices of AARINENA CAC,
ICARDA and GFAR. Traveling workshop
should be encouraged. It was also recommended to endorse challenge programs on
desertification, water, Germplasm improvement and biotechnology as high priority
in the region.
Financial
and Administration Issues
Dr. M. ElTamzini
AARINENA Trust Fund Operating Officer presented the financial and administrative
matters. He stated that subscription fee for many member countries were overdue.
Most institutions did not pay their subscription fees for the year 2002.
The
fund balance, at the end of the period 2000-2002, is about $ 122, 000.
Unofficial financial statement considering the revenue and the expenses done and
those committed is shown in Annex IV
Regarding
the administrative issues, Dr.
ElTamzini raised two issues:
-
The conference should recruit a full time experienced officer as
executive secretary, he stated if this suggestion is adopted, then the secretary
should manage and operate the financial affairs of AARINENA, The conference
should also decide on the location of the trust find account.
-
For strengthening Membership of AARINENA, the executive secretary should
attract more countries and request the fees from member countries early January
of each year.
-The
institution should allocate the fees in their budget and be paid without delay
otherwise increasing the membership fees is inevitable.
The
conference did not agree on increasing the fees for country member
subscriptions.
The program of work and budget for
year 2003- 2004 was presented by Dr.
Christo Hilan and adopted by the conference with minor changes related
to the budget fund balance (Annex V).
It
was recommended that the workplan and budget revision would reflect the
financial support of the cosponsors provided in fulfilling cooperative
activities with the Association.
A budget would be allocated to establish the olive oil and crop network, recruiting regional or international consultants according to prepared and approved Terms of Reference (TOR).
Election
of the New Executive Committee of AARINENA
According to the guidelines of the
adopted rules of procedure explained by the FAO legal officer, the sub-regional
representatives elected five members from their sub regions as follows:
-
Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria representatives
elected Dr. Abdel Nabi Fardous
from Jordan as Mashreq sub regional representative.
-
Libya, Malta and Morocco representatives elected Dr.
Taher Azzabi from Libya as Maghreb sub regional representative.
-
Egypt, Sudan and Yemen representatives elected Dr.
Fawzi N. Mahrous from Egypt as Nile Valley and Red Sea sub regional
representative.
-
Kuwait, Oman and UAE representatives elected Dr.
Ahmad N. Al Bakri from Oman as the Arabian Peninsula sub regional
representative.
-Iran
and Pakistan representatives selected Dr.
Mohamad Roozitalab from Iran as West and Central Asia sub regional
representative.
Then the conference moved to the election of the
President, Vice President by secret ballot the results were Dr.
Abdel Nabi Fardous from Jordan was elected as President of AARINENA and Dr.
Mohamad Roozitalab from Iran was elected as Vice President.
The Newly Elected Executive five Committee members are:
1.
Dr. Abdel Nabi Fardous (Mashreq Sub-region), President,
2.
Dr.Mohamed Roozitalab (West Asia Sub-region), Vice-President,
3.
Dr.Ahmad Nasser Al Bakri (Arabian Peninsula), Member
4.
Dr. Fawzi Naim Mahrous (Nile Valley & Red Sea), Member.
5.
Dr. Taher Azzabi (Maghreb subregion), Member.
Dr.
Fardous, the newly elected President of AARINENA thanked all
participants in the Conference for their trust and cooperation, then he read the
declaration of Intent on behalf of Jordan.
In accepting the Presidency of AARINENA, Jordan is
guided by the following principles and considerations:
The Presidency of AARINENA is a very
serious undertaking and responsibility as well as a moral obligation. At all
levels, efforts will be made to ensure the success and efficiency of the
Association, including:
At policy makers level, The Minister of
Agriculture will personally act as a patron of the Association while Jordan is
assuming the responsibility and honor of the presidency. He will endeavor to
promote the Association in the region as well as advocating its goals and
objectives at relevant fora.
At managerial level, The president elect will
designate a small number of his institute staff on part-time basis to assist him
and the Executive Secretary as needed.
At secretariat level, Jordan will provide a well
experienced professional to act as a full-time Executive Secretary assisted by
support staff to carry out duties and responsibilities in accordance with the
AARINENA constitution.
At logistic level, the Jordanian side will
provide all necessary and feasible administrative and logistic facilities for
smooth and efficient running of the affairs of the Association for the whole
duration of the Term of the Presidency.
The conference expressed their great
appreciation to the president for the declaration of intent and commitment of
Jordan to AARINENA.
Dr.
M. Yaghi, the former President, made a farewell statement in which he
thanked the team with whom he worked hard for two years, the cosponsor
international organizations for their support and all who contributed to the
success and achievement of AARINENA. He wished all the best and success for the
new President and the new Executive Committee members. He acknowledged with deep
appreciation ICARDA in setting Agricultural priorities for the CWANA, GFAR for
their support of the post harvest workshop, and FAO for operating AARINENA trust
fund.
Date
and Venue of the 9th General Conference of AARINENA
The
9th General Conference of AARINENA will be held in Oman in April 2004
upon the kind invitation from the Sultanate of Oman.
Decisions
Taken by the Executive Committee
The
newly elected executive committee met at the end of the conference and took the
following decisions:
With regard to RAIS, it was suggested that AARINENA seek assistance from International organizations and cosponsors for technical and financial support. It was also recommended that each member country nominate a focal point to AARINENA-RAIS and design a web page.
4.
Executive Committee Meeting: It was
decided to hold the next executive committee meeting in Oman, December 2002.