| News from the Drylands |
President
of Turkmenistan Lauds Collaboration with ICARDA
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| On 1 March 2005, Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy (right), ICARDA DG, and H.E. Mr Begench Atamuradov, Minister of Agriculture, Turkmenistan, jointly opened the Turkmen National Genebank, housed at the newly constructed National Museum of White Wheat. |
In a message to the participants, delivered by H.E. Mr Atamuradov, H.E. Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great, President of Turkmenistan, appreciated the on-going collaboration between ICARDA and Turkmen agricultural scientists, especially in germplasm improvement, soil and water management, and conservation of genetic resources. The President emphasized that, as a result of the collaboration between ICARDA and Turkmenistan, the country was seeing considerable progress in varietal improvement of wheat and other agricultural crops and development of sustainable crop production technologies, including those for growing fodder crops on saline soils.
Prof. Dr El-Beltagy greeted the participants and said that he was pleased that the year 2005 marked a decade of partnership between NARS of the CAC region and ICARDA. He highlighted the major milestones of the ICARDA-CAC collaboration in various areas of agricultural research and human resource development.
More than 50 participants attended the meeting, including the Heads of NARS from the CAC region, ICARDA scientists, representatives of ADB, as well as Turkmen scientists, involved in the collaborative program with ICARDA. The Heads of NARS presented their respective country reports on the progress made during the 2004/05 cropping season. They were particularly appreciative of ICARDA's support in human resource development, stressing the importance of both specialized and English language training courses for the scientists of the region.
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