Most of the plants which are cultivated worldwide have healthy effects and have been increasingly used by people suffering from various diseases. Therefore these plants can be considered as medicinal ones. Olives and date palms have similar effects. With regard to cotton and post harvest products of the textile industry, especially organically cultivated plants, there is a growing international market because of the spread of allergic and other diseases which may be used as protection from health hazards

Market orientation in the sub-sectors of date palms, olives, cotton and medicinal plants in the AARINENA region

The meeting held in Abu-Dhabi on 22-23 February was designed to move the above process forward by convening an ad hoc working group composed of the promoters of the three project ideas mentioned above and selected resource persons from the region. The objectives of the meeting were the following:
(a) To review the three project concept notes and determine the possibility for financing and execution them as stand alone projects within the AARINENA region;

The adequacy of GPPs as tools with which to effectively and efficiently address stakeholder
concerns was raised during the GFAR 2003 conference in Dakar and later in Mexico in 2004.
The GFAR Steering Committee also recommended that the Secretariat establish clear guidelines
for the development and implementation of GPPs. This review was undertaken to address some
of these doubts and questions.

The objectives of the meeting were to:
- Review the progress made by the different institutions in the field of UOC since the Rome meeting of January 2001.
- Discuss the Terms of Reference for a ¿Global Facilitation Mechanism¿ for UOC