The Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD) held the 8th meeting with the Arab delegations during the 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, on Wednesday the 28th of November 2018, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with the participation of the Arab delegations.

 During the meeting, AOAD representativepresented a presentation around the Arab Convention on the Exchange of Plant Genetic Resources. The convention was prepared by AOADand was adopted by the Arab leaders during the summit in Saudi Arabia in March 2018.

The presentation included also, the terms of reference of the Convention, its objectives and areas of application, the geographic space of application, the obligations of states under it, the conditions of transparency provided for in the Convention, the obligations of the Party providing the genetic resources and the obligations of the receiving Party.

 AOAD representative answered the questions and queries of the participants. He also called on the participants to follow up the ratification procedures at the national level to speed up to get a sufficient quorum for their entry into action so that AOAD can start the executive procedures of this treaty. The present delegations called for this presentation to be repeated during the next group meeting on Thursday, 29 November, to enable members of delegations who were associated with important negotiating commitments. The representative of AOADwelcomed the request.

It is worth mentioning that this is the fifth visual presentation by AOAD to the Arab delegations during the Conference, following the views of AOAD’sachievements in the field of biodiversity and its future plan of action, and the networks established in this area, as well as the synergies between the ARIO Conventions as well as resources and genetic banks.

 At the end of the meeting, the representative stressed the importance of the meeting of the Arab Group on Thursday, November 29, 2018, which was the last day of the conference, during which the Arab Group assessed its work during the two weeks of the conference and define the map of action and coordination during post-Sharm el-Sheikh period.