AARINENA Executive Committee held its meeting in Aleppo, Syria at ICARDA on the 5th of May 2007 in conjunction with ICARDA Presentation Day. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Ahmad Al Bakri, President of AARINENA, and attended by executive committee members and representatives of ICARDA and the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR). 

The meeting discussed revisiting priority settings and proposed the formulation of an expert group that will consist of 4-5 experts to draft a report on the priority setting activities in the region to be presented for the 11th General Conference. Moreover, the Committee approved and encouraged the Division of the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) partnership in updating the country profiles.
With regard to Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) Network, the committee recommended supporting this activity by providing the travel and accommodation for two participants from the region in the proposed expert consultation meeting for the network.

A concept note on Near East Rural and Agricultural Knowledge and Information Network prepared by FAO was presented. The committee approved the network taking into consideration the following:

• The network to be linked, facilitated, and monitored by AARINENA while its implementation will be supported by FAO and GFAR.
• The activities of the network should be NARS driven.

Dr. Abdelmajid Slama, GFAR Executive Secretary presented the GFAR business plan for 2007-9 and covered various steps for its preparation starting with the GFAR 2006 Triennial Conference and ending with the GFAR Steering Committee's approval. Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan presented the financial status of the Association up to 30 April 2007.