The First Congress of African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) was held from 24-26 March 2001 in Cairo, Egypt. The event was organized by the Egyptian Seed Association (ESAS) under the auspices of His Excellency Prof. Dr. Youssef Wally, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and with strong support from Bayer, Misr-Pioneer and GTZ.
        The congress was attended by 264 participants from 39 countries in Africa, Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe representing seed trade associations, private seed companies and international organizations. 
        Apart from the business meeting, the congress covered many topical and general issues related to the development of the African Seed industry. The six sessions covered: (a) Appropriate laws and regulations; (b) Seed industry in Africa; (c) Improved quality seeds for African food security, (d) Implications of biosafety protocols; (e) Intellectual property rights; and (f) Private sector seed industry in Africa. Presentations were made on the national seed programs of selected African countries and the status and prospects of the private sector. Harmonization of policy and regulation and intellectual property rights remains the top agenda of many such international seed meetings.
        Michael Turner and Zewdie Bishaw attended the meeting on behalf of the ICARDA Seed Unit. Dr Turner presented a joint paper on the role of the International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs) in the changing seed industry.  The paper outlined the changing climate in international development and the global seed industry and their impact on the public seed sector, local seed supply systems, access to varieties, intellectual property rights and biosafety issues. It advocated formulation of uniform national seed polices and harmonization of seed regulations to ensure better access to varieties and technologies by farmers. The IARCs and NARS have an interest in the rapid adoption and diffusion of their varieties to ensure an efficient use of their investment and to demonstrate impact. To achieve this there is a need to forge partnership both with the public and private sectors to find an efficient and effective means of delivering their products to the farmers.
        The Steering Committee members of the WANA Seed Network from Cyprus, Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Turkey also attended the Congress. The meeting provided the members with an opportunity to meet, interact and exchange experiences with a large number of seed professionals from both the public and private sectors.
        The General Assembly ratified a decision that the second AFSTA Congress will be held, March 27-29, 2002 in Dakar, Senegal. Zewdie Bishaw, Seed Unit, ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria; E-mail: Z.Bishaw@ cgiar.org