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the important bridging role that ICARDA is now playing between the CARs themselves and between the CARs and the international agricultural research and development community.
ICARDA has made another constructive move towards strengthening its research contacts in Central Asia. It has appointed a distinguished Kazakh scientist, Dr Makhlis Suleimenov, as its liaison officer for Central Asia. Dr Suleimenov is no stranger to international coorperation, having traveled widely abroad.
It is hoped that ICARDA will shortly be able to establish a permanent liaison office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and to this end ICARDA's Highland Regional Program coordinator, Dr S.P.S. Beniwal, held consultations with senior
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Uzbek officials in September and October, visiting the Uzbekistan Scientific Production Center for Agriculture (USPCA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers in Tashkent, and Karnap Farm near Samarkand (site of the USDA/ICARDA/Central Asia Small Ruminant/ Rangeland Project). H.E. Azimjon I. Muhitdinov, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Agriculture and Water Resources, has shown strong support for ICARDA's initiative.
The process took another step forward during the CGIAR's International Centers Week in October 1997, when ICARDA organized a luncheon meeting, sponsored by USAID and and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in Washington DC. It was attended by 73 representatives from the
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donor community and other CG Centers, and a senior team from ICARDA led by Board of Trustees Chair Dr Alfred Bronnimann and Prof. Dr El-Beltagy. Prof. Dr El-Beltagy presented a well-illustrated account of ICARDA's past and current research and training activities in Central Asia and highlighted the plans that the Central Asian NARS had developed for implementation on a priority basis.
The USAID Representative, Dr John Lewis, expressed his appreciation of ICARDA's initiatives and efforts in Central Asia and emphasized the need for support for agricultural research in the region. Dr Abdelmajid Slama, the IFAD Representative, endorsed Dr Lewis's comments and highlighted IFAD's present activities and interest in the region. He also highlighted IFAD's support to ICARDA's projects in
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the West Asia and North Africa region and assured the group of IFAD's interest in assisting ICARDA's efforts in Central Asia.
The meeting had a concrete result. Dr Jit Srivastava of the World Bank suggested the formation of a Consortium on Central Asia to gather the much-needed financial support for initiating research activities in the region. And later discussions resulted in the formation of a CG-Center Consortium for Central Asia, with ICARDA as its focal point, by way of providing the needed administrative and logistic support to other CG Centers for their activities in the region from its office in Tashkent. Eight Centers, including ICARDA, then signed an agreement to this effect. The Consortium is open to all CG centers.
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