Western and Central Africa Regional Meeting Report Ex situ Conservation and Development: 5. Sustaining existing ex situ collections   Country Actions taken since mid-1995/Sources of founding Constrains/Needs Opportunities Support required from regional & international organizations East & South Mediterranean Algeria   Information not available Cyprus   Monitoring of accessions viability are carried out every 1 to 2 years Not mentioned Not mentioned Promoting and encouraging joint activities by developing joint projects Egypt   · Activities were very limited · About 10 thousand accessions are stored in Bahteem PGR Section · Lack of funds and absence of reliable conservation facilities · Training Establishment of National genebank Financial and technical assistance Jordan   Information not available Lebanon   Information not available Libya   Information not available Malta   There are no ex situ collections per se Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned Morocco   · Systematic and regular control of the viability of the accessions preserved in the banks of genes (cold rooms, freezers) · National funding   · Main constraint is the unreliability of storage conditions which lead to frequent regeneration · Risks of mixture · Very costly process   Establishment of national genebank   Financial support for the establishment of national genebank   Palestine   Not applicable Syria   More than 20000 accessions are conserved, also germplasm conserved and maintained in ICARDA · Lack of equipment · Training in methods of PGR conservation Regional collaboration Financial support Tunisia   · Accessions are maintained in poor conditions and most of them by annual multiplication · National funding made available for strengthening active collections   · Lack of infrastructure · Trained Personnel   Establishment of Nation Centre for Conservation of Genetic Resources   · Additional funds for the establishment of the National Centre · Training   Turkey   · Implementation of ex situ conservation both for generative and vegetative collections · National funding Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned   West Asia Afghanistan   Sustaining Afghan existing ex situ collection is only possible through genebank record in international collections because the Afghan small genebank is looted and destroyed   Need to restore the storage infrastructures   Not mentioned   Financial and technical support   Bahrain   Information not available Iran   Information not available Iraq   Information not available Kuwait   Information not available Oman   · No substantial work has been done · Some work on collection and establishment of exotic germplasm has been done in fruit plants · Collection mission were organized in march-April 1998 in Northern Oman for Rangeland and forage species in collaboration with ICARDA/APRP   · Funds needed to establish well equipped gene bank · Training curators in seed conservation and data management · Qualified national personnel in ex situ conservation   Not in immediate future   · Financial support from regional and international organization for any further programmes or continuing existing programmes · Sending the information of any germplasm material collected from Oman and conserved else-where in the world   Pakistan   · The existing ex situ collections are maintained according to the international standards in the PGRI · National and international funding   Need for additional funding for optional operation of PGRI   Not mentioned   Financial support   Qatar   Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned Saudi Arabia   Information not available United Arab Emirates   Information not available Yemen   Information not available   Central Asia Armenia   Information not available Azerbaijan   Several Institutions are involved in PGR conservation and maintenance   · Need for establishing a national genebank for long-term conservation and base collections · Insufficient funding   Regional collaboration   · Financial support to carry out PGR activities in Central Asia · Training   Kazakhstan   Information not available Kyrgyz Republic   Information not available Tajikstan   Information not available Uzbekistan   Several Institutions are involved in PGR conservation and maintenance   · Need for establishing a national genebank for long-term conservation and base collections · Insufficient funding   Regional collaboration   Financial support to carry out PGR activities in Central Asia   TOC