The Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR) is a joint undertaking by all stakeholders of ARD to mobilize the scientific community in order to address the three major challenges of rural poverty alleviation, achieving food security and assuring a sustainable management of the environment. In the development and strengthening of a Global Agricultural Research System (GARS) all stakeholders participate very actively in this process at the national, regional and global levels (NARS, IARCs, NGOs, ARIs, farmers¿ organizations, the private sector and donors). Within this context, global activities are being carried out through an increasingly diversified range of research partnerships, in which three modes of collaboration play a key role: (a) international centres with a global mandate, (b) inter-regional cooperation between NARS and other stakeholders of agricultural research for development (ARD) through various forms of research partnerships, and (c) global programmes and networks that emerge in specific areas of research.