REPORT
The meeting started at 9 o'clock at El Mechtel Hotel in Tunis in presence of all participating Countries except Portugal. As for the Associated Countries, only France was present. The Project Coordinator, Mr. HASSEN AKROUT, opened the meeting.
As defined in the Project Document, the Steering Committee is the decision authority of the Project. It is responsible for the execution of the Project as a whole within the limits of the Project Document and in accordance with the regulations and procedures of FAO and UNDP.
The Project Coordinator highlighted the responsibility of the focal points which should be real activity centres for MEDRAP at the national level. To achieve this vital goal, he insisted on the necessity of setting up the national and sub-regional centres as mentioned in the Project Document. These centres, should be provided with the necessary staff and equipment. National Committees should be created around the National Coordinator in order to implement the Project activities in the most effective way.
Finally, the Project Coordinator presented the various items of the preliminary agenda (Annex II) with a little comment on each of them and proposed the election of the meeting officials.
The National Coordinator of TUNISIA the host country, was designated by all participants, as Chairman of the meeting in accordance with the terms of the Project Document.
The Chairman proposed the designation of a rapporteur and a vice rapporteur, which was accepted. The Representatives of CYPRUS, and MOROCCO, were designated for the purpose. They were to be assisted by the Administrative Assistant of the Project.
The agenda was approved after two slight modifications, concerning the order of the different items.
