Participants
FAO and NAPC organized the Workshop. Background papers were prepared on food and agricultural policy issues in the Near East Region, on institutional requirements and approaches to policy analysis, drawn from international experience as well as from the responses received from the participants in the Workshop to whom a questionnaire had been sent well in advance. Representatives from Ministries of Agriculture from 17 countries from the Near East and more than 30 national, regional and international academic, research and training institutions and foundations involved in capacity development in food and agriculture policies were invited at the meeting. Out of those, delegates from 15 countries of the Region attended the Workshop, comprising Afghanistan, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco,, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen. Representatives of Algeria and Pakistan could not manage to attend the meeting due to last minute changes in their schedules. Representatives from some intergovernmental organizations also participated, such as the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD), the Centre International des Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM) of Bari, the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). Several professional staff and consultants from FAO Headquarters and FAO Regional Office for the Near East also participated in the meeting. The list of participants is included in Annex 1.
In addition to the opening and closing sessions, three technical sessions were held including fruitful discussions and deliberations. The participants were also given the chance to visit the National Agriculture Policy Centre (NAPC) and to present their own countries experiences. The Agenda of the Workshop is included in Annex 2. Participants were provided with background documentation (listed in Annex 3). Simultaneous translation was available in Arabic, English, French and Russian.
