The Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will be held at FAO Headquarters in Rome from 13 – 15 December 2006. The opening meeting will begin at 09.30 hours on Wednesday 13 December 2006..
The Session is being convened under the Regular Programme of the Organization. It will be conducted in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish.
The Working Group was established by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture at its Seventh Session in May 1997, in line with Conference Resolution 3/95. The Tenth Session of the Commission decided that the Working Group should hold a session during 2006, to review the first draft Report on the State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources, to review the progress made in the preparation of the International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources including the preparation of the draft agenda, and funding and financial plans; as well as to review the progress of the Global Strategy for the Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources and priorities for its further development.
The members of the Working Group, as designated by the FAO regional groups during the Tenth Session of the Commission, are as follows:
Africa: Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tunisia
Asia: Bangladesh, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
Europe: Denmark, France, Germany, Slovenia, Turkey
Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, Uruguay
Near East: Egypt, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Yemen
North America: Canada, United States of America
Southwest Pacific: Australia, Samoa
Members of the Commission which are not members of the Working Group may participate in the work of the Working Group in an observer capacity, upon request to the Commission Secretariat. Experts, as well as representatives of specialized international organizations, may also be invited by the Working Group, or the bureau on behalf of the Working Group, to attend its meetings as observers. | 
