National research systems (NARS) are the principal partners of the Centres in the conduct of their work. While the environment in which both NARS and CGIAR Centres operate is changing rapidly, this note does not deal with the many important and dynamic issues in the relations between IARC's and NARS, such as the declining level of resources available to NARS since the early eighties, the differential strengths of NARS, modalities of partnerships arrangements or the need for strengthening NARS in order for CGIAR Centres to operate efficiently. Rather, the central issue here relates to priority setting.
