The general objective of this initiative is to facilitate exchange of information and, consequently, promote collaboration between the regional and sub-regional fora. The specific objectives are: 1) To define more precisely the data/information arising from agricultural research networks and the format in which they are gathered and made accessible to users by different regional and global networks. 2)
To identify the commonalties and differences between these different sets of information and the systems in which they are managed. 3) To develop a consensus on common standards which will allow greater transparency between databases which will facilitate information retrieval and exchange.