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Development of sustainable systems of date palm in the Arabian Peninsula was the subject of a 3-day workshop held in Abu Dhabi 29-31 May 2004. The workshop was organized by ICARDA and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of the United Arab Emirates in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) and the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Over 70 researchers, date palm specialists and experts were invited. They represented ICARDA, GCC countries (Bahrain, Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia), Yemen. Experts from Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Sudan, Tunis and USA were also invited along with representatives of FAO, UAEU and Arab Authority for Agricultural Development (AAAD). The workshop was held under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Nahayan bin Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of UAEU, who also inaugurated the meeting. In his opening speech Sheikh Nahayan welcomed the participants and stressed the importance of date palm in the Arabian Peninsula and the support given by the United Arab Emirates over the years for date palm research which was carried out by different international organizations. H.E. Saeed Bin-Mohamed Al-Raqabany, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries highlighted the importance of the workshop and praised the collaboration between ICARDA, the Ministry of Agriculture, the United Arab Emirates University and the GCC in organizing the meeting.
Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA DG, welcomed the scientists and experts who arrived from all over the world to contribute to the workshop. Dr El-Beltagy then made a power point presentation, which highlighted the global challenges facing the world today. He highlighted global warming, land degradation, water scarcity, loss of biodiversity and the population pressure on natural resources. He then spoke on the role played by ICARDA in the dry areas, especially those of Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA). ICARDA, he added, is using tools of science such as GIS/Remote Sensing, climate change monitoring systems, Biotechnology/Genomics; Bioinformatics; Modeling; Expert Systems/Information Technology and the participatory approach. He stressed the importance of investing in research as the only means to address all the challenges facing our world. He concluded by thanking UAE for hosting the workshop on date palm which was neglected for a long time.
A special visit was organized for invited participants of the workshop to a tissue culture laboratory producing date palm transplants, a farm, and a date factory. |
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