The purpose of the 2nd EFARD General Meeting is to develop concrete outcomes for each of the Global Research Programme Initiatives, i.e. development of complementary actions based on the 19 EFARD Action Programme Proposals for the EU-NFP-instruments, the GFAR-Global Partnership Programmes and CGIAR-Challenge Programmes. For the preparation of the Forum meeting inputs are solicited from the National Fora to elaborate the 19 proposals in view of the comparative advantages of each of the funding opportunities. A full list of interested persons has been circulated by the EFARD-Secretariat to the National Fora on 29 March 2002, for the operational working groups for each of the 19 proposals. In this respect special attention is requested for the development of the ERA-ARD in the NFP and the "Invitation to Submit Expressions of Interest" for Integrated Projects and Networks of Excellence for the major thematic themes of the NFP. Submission deadline is 7 June 2002, which offers unique possibilities for the EFARD meeting participants to discuss and finalize proposals for submission to the European Commission. The National Fora representatives are invited to bring all their ideas to the 15-17 May general meeting in Rome.