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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.org
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Media contact: Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
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Director
General of the OPEC Fund Visits ICARDA
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H.E. Mr
Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, Director General of the OPEC Fund for International
Development (OFID), visited ICARDA on 22-23 June. He was accompanied
by Mrs Ikhlass Najib, Head of the Grants Unit. The objective of the
visit was to obtain first-hand information on ICARDA's programs and
facilities and discuss the Center's ongoing and future collaboration
with OFID. Dr Mahmoud Solh, Director General, received the distinguished
visitors at ICARDA. He thanked them for the visit and briefed them
on the Center's activities.
After the briefing, H.E. Mr Al-Herbish attended a special meeting with the senior management and scientific staff of ICARDA. Dr Solh welcomed him to the meeting and gave an overview of OFID's support to ICARDA to date. He said OFID was the first donor to support ICARDA with the sum of US$4 million in 1980 for the construction of its new headquarters buildings. He said the fund was used to construct ICARDA's laboratories 1 and 2, which have been serving ICARDA scientists as well as a large number of trainees from the CWANA region and beyond. Dr Solh said OFID has also supported the cereal improvement, participatory barley breeding, natural resource management, wind erosion, community-based seed production, livestock improvement, and sustainable water management programs of ICARDA. He said OFID has provided the sum of US$9 million to ICARDA to date. He expressed appreciation to OFID for the continued support and said the visit of H.E. Mr Al-Herbish would open new avenues for further collaboration between the two organizations.
H.E. Mr Al-Herbish thanked Dr Solh for updating him with ICARDA's activities and achievements. He presented an overview of OFID's programs and objectives. OFID was established in 1976 by member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to promote social and economic development in developing countries, he said. He said OFID has provided grants and aids for a variety of projects and activities in developing countries, including assistance to member countries in the event of natural disasters. Mr Al-Herbish said OFID contributes actively to HIV/AIDS interventions, in collaboration with UNESCO, WHO, and other organizations. He said the Fund would continue to support ICARDA's programs in the future.
During the discussions that followed the presentations, ICARDA scientists suggested some key areas of ICARDA's research that OFID can support financially in the future.
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About
ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.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.