The meeting was opened by GFAR Chair Mohammed Roozitalab who welcomed all participants and
noted that all of the regional for a (RF) chairs and executive secretaries were present or adequately
represented (See Annex 1 for attendance list). This full participation, according to him is important
given the objectives of the meeting, which were to discuss activities and progress made by the RF
during the year and subsequently in a closed session to screen the pre-proposals of the DURAS
project. Following these opening remarks, he tabled the minutes of the previous meeting, which
were approved with no amendments, and presented the agenda of the meeting for comments and
adoption.