The FAO Regional Office for the Near East, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in Egypt, is organizing a regional workshop on “Expansion in Biofuel and Soaring Food Prices: Implications for Agricultural and Food Policies in the Near East and North Africa”. The workshop will be held at the Conference Hall of the Foreign Agricultural Relations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt during the period from 2 - 4 June 2008. 

The workshop will be attended by FAO experts and agricultural policy and planning officials from 14 countries in the Region: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Sudan, Bahrain, Yemen and Iraq. They will discuss how the food security and agricultural development of the member countries of the Region are being affected by the global crisis of soaring food prices, including the impact of recent expansion in biofuel production. 

Many Governments have taken immediate policy measures to address soaring food prices such as eliminating import tariffs, taxes and duties or imposing bans on exports. The workshop will discuss the implications of these measures in the short-term and discuss their effectiveness in securing sustainable and long term benefits for agricultural producers and in protecting consumers in both rural and urban areas. 

The workshop is being held under the umbrella of the Near East and North Africa Regional Network for Agricultural Policies (NENARNAP), which was established in 2003 with assistance from FAO.