1. OPENING REMARKS
In his opening remarks, Mr. Mohammad Roozitalab, GFAR Chair, welcomed all participants,
with a special recognition of those attending the meeting for the first time, such as new
Regional Fora (RF) chairs from APAARI (Mr. H.P.M. Gunasena), FARA (Ms. Njabulo
Nduli) and other stakeholder representatives Mr. Ron Bonnett from IFAP and Mr. Robert
Carreau from the European Commission (see the full list participants in Annex 2). He
reminded participants of the decision to convert the NARS sub-Committee to a Program

The meeting was opened by GFAR Chair Mohammed Roozitalab who welcomed all participants and
noted that all of the regional for a (RF) chairs and executive secretaries were present or adequately
represented (See Annex 1 for attendance list). This full participation, according to him is important
given the objectives of the meeting, which were to discuss activities and progress made by the RF
during the year and subsequently in a closed session to screen the pre-proposals of the DURAS

GFAR Chair Raj Paroda opened the meeting by welcoming all stakeholders present in the meeting. In
his statement, he highlighted the need to strengthen the role of the NARS Steering Committee in the
light of changes taking place within GFAR. He cited the importance of advancing inter-regional
activities and called for a more enhanced interaction of the secretariats of both GFAR and the
regional/sub-regional fora. The Chair acknowledged the GFAR Secretariat for being able to handle

While welcoming the delegates, Dr. Raj Paroda highlighted some important changes that had occurred
since the last meeting in Washington in October 2001:
- Jean-François Giovannetti was assuming the position of Officer in Charge after the departure of
Fernando Chaparro in February this year. To renew this position, Christian Bonte-Friedham has
taken the position of Chair of the Search Committee for the new GFAR Executive Secretary. An
Interim Executive Council was established to guide the Officer in Charge, with the support of

Rajendra S. Paroda, Chairman of GFAR, welcomed the participants in the meeting. The list of
participants is attached as Annex 1. In his opening remarks, Dr. Paroda noted changes taking place at
the regional and sub-regional level. He also cited the CGIAR change process, which, he said, is
crucial in the development of NARS. He also made reference to the GFAR/IFAD Workshop on
Global Partnership Programmes (GPPs) which was held in Rome in early October 2001. He apprised