 |
ICARDA News International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012 Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105; E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG Website: www.icarda.cgiar.org |
|
|
16 October 2005
|
||
The announcement was made on 10 October 2005 by Dr Margaret Catley-Carlson, ICARDA Board Chair, who said: "It is a great delight and profound pleasure for me to announce that Dr Mahmoud Mohamed Bachir El-Solh will be the next Director General of ICARDA after the departure of Professor Dr Adel El- Beltagy in May 2006. "Dr Solh is no stranger to ICARDA and therefore I hardly need to introduce him to you. Being a Lebanese, he is the son of the soil, knowing the ICARDA region and its challenges well. He has been associated with the international agricultural research and development in the dry areas since 1972 when he became a staff member of the Arid Land Agricultural Development (ALAD) Program in the Near East, the predecessor of ICARDA. "As most of you would recall, it was only three years back that he left ICARDA, to join FAO as the Director of Plant Production and Protection (AGP) Division, after having served the Center with distinction for nearly 16 years in various capacities - as Lentil Breeder, Regional Food Legume Breeder in North Africa, Research Coordinator in the Nile Valley Program, Regional Coordinator of the Nile Valley and Red Sea Regional Program, and finally Assistant Director General for International Cooperation. His three-year stay in FAO has provided him opportunity to expand his global perspective for agriculture as a tool for sustainable development and to sharpen his managerial and administrative skills supervising three major FAO services, viz., Crops and Grassland Service, Plant Protection Service, and Seeds and Plant Genetic Resources Service. "Dr Solh holds a Ph D degree in Genetics from the University of California, Davis and has an impressive record of scientific publications. He has a strong experience of academia and human resource capacity building, having served as Assistant/Associate Professor of Genetics and Plant Breeding at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Last year, he was honored by AUB through an award "In Recognition of Outstanding Achievements in the Agricultural Sector." "Dr Solh has enormous experience of donor relations and fund raising within the ICARDA region and beyond. His people skills have been his great asset. He has an in-depth knowledge of needs and aspirations of the national agricultural research and development systems in the whole of the Central and West Asia and North Africa region. He developed strong bonds with the leaders of the national programs and forged mutually rewarding partnership with the NARS when he earlier served ICARDA as the Assistant Director General for International Cooperation. "Dr Solh has a charming family. His wife Shadia, who is already well known to most of the spouses of ICARDA staff, would be a great force in ensuring that ICARDA community continues to be a happy and well-knit family. Their daughter Amira, and sons Mazen and Marwan are also known to many ICARDA families. "Please join me in welcoming the Solhs in the ICARDA family." |
About
ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.cgiar.org)
serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil,
and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management
of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants
(sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In
the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible
for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage
legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of
the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations supporting15 international research centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.