The report of the 17th biennial session of FAO`s Committee on Agriculture (COAG), held at FAO Headquarters, Rome from 31 March to 4 April 2003, is now available. The meeting was attended by representatives of 113 Members of the Committee (which has 124 Member nations plus one Member organisation, the European Community) and by 60 observers including 39 international NGOs. COAG`s main task is to review and provide advice on FAOs programme of work in food and agriculture, including on selected international development issues. Among the items discussed at the meeting was the concept of Biosecurity in food and agriculture as well as FAO`s role regarding biotechnology applications in agriculture. See http://www.fao.org/Unfao/bodies/council/cl124/cl124-e.htm (document CL 124/9 - in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish) or contact Boyd Haight, COAG Secretary, directly or through [email protected] , for more information.

19/06/2003