The Regional office for the Near East of the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO/RNE) in collaboration with the University of Alexandria, will organize a workshop of the Near East National Correspondents to FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment Programme (FRA 2010) from 13 – 16 October at the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Alexandria, Al-Shatby District, Alexandria, Egypt. 

The workshop will be attended by the officially nominated National Correspondents from the Near East Region in their capacity as focal points for FRA 2010. 

The objective of the workshop is to review the draft country reports and methodology for compiling the National Reporting Tables for FRA. 

It is worth to note that the Eighteenth Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO), held at FAO Headquarters from 13 to 16 March 2007, recommended that FAO complete the next Global Forest Resources Assessment in 2010 in close collaboration with countries and other organizations. The active and direct involvement of countries, through the establishment of a global network of 172 officially nominated National Correspondents from all over the world, was a key aspect of the success of the latest Global Forest Resources Assessment completed in 2005 (FRA 2005). 

The immediate tasks of the National Correspondents are to assist the Secretariat of FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment Programme in the development of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 (FRA 2010).