Participants in the course were from 15 countries. Of the FAO SW Asia Commission members, two trainees came from Iran, two from Pakistan, and one from India. One trainee participated from each of the EMPRES/CR countries (Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen) and one trainee from Libya. Oman, as the host country, included a second person at the last minute to bring the total number of trainees to 16. Five trainers conducted the course: Keith Cressman (FAO, Rome) and Fuad Bahakim (EMPRES/CR, Yemen) for survey, Hans Dobson (NRI, UK) and Munir Butrous (CRC, Cairo) for control, and John Lowe (Wolverhampton Univ, UK) for training skills. Felege Elias (Ethiopia) was a co-trainer who assisted with both survey and control.