Since its establishment, GFAR recognized that the development of an efficient Information and
Communication action is vital for it to become a mature initiative. Its first goal among five major
ones is to facilitate the exchange of information among its members.
The first operational GFAR activity that has been identified was the development of an efficient
electronic tool to support GFAR Information and Communication activities. A first proposal
for a GFAR website was endorsed by the GFAR Steering Committee (GFAR SC) at its first
meeting held in May 1997 in Cairo. It has been named EGFAR, the acronym for Electronic
Global Forum on Agricultural Research. However, the GFAR SC also recognized the
importance for GFAR to elaborate a dynamic Information and Communication strategy that
EGFAR would be designed to serve, and that goes beyond EGFAR.