Dr Mahmoud El Solh holds a PhD in Genetics from the University of California, Davis, USA, and has an impressive record of scientific publications. He has more than 30 years experience international agriculture particularly plant breeding/agricultural research in various institutions: the Ford Foundation starting in 1972, ICARDA, American University of Beirut, FAO and now as Director General of ICARDA. He has rich experience in donor relations and fund raising, and an in-depth knowledge of needs and aspirations of the national agricultural research and development systems in non-tropical dry Ares particularly in Central and West Asia and North Africa regions . Throughout his career his activities have focused on contributing to food security, alleviating poverty, and developing sustainable agricultural research systems; planning, implementation, and evaluation of agricultural research projects for development; institutional building and human resource capacity development ; and promoti