Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has organized in collaboration with CIHEAM-Bari a pre-conference meeting in Bari, Italy to promote the plan to establish a regional trust fund that will support strategic programme to face transboundary plant pests and diseases. Plant protection officials from Near East and North Africa (NENA) countries, experts, donors, funding agencies and stakeholders were invited to discuss the proposed component of the regional programme.