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The 2nd Regional Steering Committee Meeting (RSCM) of the Arabian Peninsula Regional Program (APRP) was held on 26 January at the headquarters of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) in Kuwait. The meeting was opened by H.E. Sheik Fahad Salim Al Ali Al Sabbah, Chairman of the Board and Director General of the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) who expressed the importance of APRP for technology development, capacity building, and human resource development in the region.

 H.E. Abdalatif Al Hamad, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of AFESD, also welcomed the participants and expressed his organization’s keen interest in the Program, for its contribution in enhancing agricultural production and developing linkages among countries of the Arabian Peninsula in various areas of research, human resource development, and technology development for sustainable use of agricultural resources and water.

 ICARDA Director General Prof. Dr Adel El Beltagy thanked H.E. Sheik Fahad Salim Al Ali Al Sabbah for his patronage for the meeting and the State of Kuwait for its support of APRP and scientific research at the regional and international levels. He also thanked H.E. Abdulatif Al-Hamad and AFESD for hosting the meeting, which he said, gave the program moral support in addition to the financial support. Prof. Dr El Beltagy then spoke on the importance of APRP, which links the national agricultural research systems in the seven countries of Arabian Peninsula and ICARDA in work on three research themes: water, forage and range, and protected agriculture, and developing human resources through training and technology transfer. The Director General also spoke of the challenges that face the CGIAR, which necessitate changes in the research strategy at the regional level.

 Prof. Dr El Beltagy thanked AFESD, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the OPEC Fund for International Development for their financial support to the program.

 the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) who expressed the importance of APRP for technology development, capacity building, and human resource development in the region.

 H.E. Abdalatif Al Hamad, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of AFESD, also welcomed participants and expressed his organization’s keen interest in the Program, for its work improving agricultural production and developing linkages among countries of the Arabian Peninsula in the various aspects of research, human resource development, and technology development for sustainable use of agricultural resources and water.

 ICARDA Director General Prof. Dr Adel El Beltagy thanked H.E. Sheik Fahad Salim Al Ali Al Sabbah for his patronage for the meeting and Kuwait for its support of APRP and scientific research at the regional and international levels. He also thanked H.E. Abdulatif Al-Hamad and AFESD for hosting the meeting, which he said, gave the program moral support in addition to the financial support. Prof. Dr El Beltagy then spoke on the importance of APRP, which links the national agricultural research systems in the seven countries of Arabian Peninsula and ICARDA in work on three research themes: water, forage and range, and protected agriculture, and enhances human resource development through training and technology transfer. The Director General also spoke of the challenges that face the CGIAR, which necessitate changes in the research strategy at the regional level.

 Prof. Dr El Beltagy thanked AFESD, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the OPEC Fun for International Development for their financial support to the program.

H.E. Sheik Fahad Salim Al Ali Al Sabbah , Chairman of Board and Director General of the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources, Kuwait;  H.E. Addalatif Al Hamad, chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Arab Found for Economic and Social Development; and ICARDA Director General Prof. Dr. Adel Beltagy, inaugurating ICARDA-APRP RSCM in AFESD, Kuwait.

The Steering Committee Meeting followed the opening ceremony and was chaired by ICARDA’s Assistant Director General for International Cooperation (ADG-IC), Dr Mahmoud Solh. The meeting was attended by twenty participants (List of participants are in Annex I) representing the Arabian Peninsula countries: UAE, Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait, Republic of Yemen, representatives of AFESD and ICARDA management and scientists.  Representatives of IFAD and OPEC were unable to attend the meeting.

Dr Mahmoud Solh welcomed the participants and thanked AFSED for hosting this meeting. He also expressed appreciation and gratitude to AFESD, IFAD and OPEC for their highly valued contribution to APRP and agricultural development in the Arabian Peninsula.

Mr Samir Jarrad, representative of AFESD welcomed the group.  He praised the achievements made in APRP documentations since last RSCM.  He also stressed the importance of working towards sustainable links “networking” among participating countries, so that contacts among NARS in the Arabian Peninsula will continue after the program finishes.  He concluded by saying that in the final year there must be a study on evaluation and impact assessment for the program.

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