Within Near East Region, FAO is teamed up with organizations such as the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions of Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) and Central Laboratory for Agricultural Expert Systems (CLAES) on the development of a Regional Agricultural Information System (RAIS) on information management capacity building for countries in the Near East Region.

FAO is actively seeking new opportunities for collaboration and to establish informal consortium to improve information capacity building within the region. FAO WAICENT Outreach Programme is working to establish an informal consortium for capacity building in agricultural information management and networking with key resource agencies in the Near East, including the organization with AOAD of an initial scoping workshop in 2003.  FAO has strengthened collaborative relationship with AOAD and ICARDA at regional levels, including administration of Letter of Agreements with them completed in 2002. FAO WAICENT Outreach Programme is also putting in place significant efforts to establish contact with ESCWA and ACSAD, and investigate potential for collaboration and to strengthen collaboration with CIHEAM.