The Regional Office for the Near East of the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will organize in collaboration with the International Plant Protection Convention, a regional workshop to review the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs).

The workshop will take place from 9:00 a.m. at Flamenco Hotel, Zamalek Cairo, during the period from 22 - 26 July, 2007, with the participation of Phytosanitary specialists from fifteen countries of the region: Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Emirates and Yemen. 

It is worth to note that this is the fifth annual workshop to be convened in the Near East Region to review the International Phytosanitary Standards. 

The workshop aims at reviewing some of the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures such as: classification of commodities into phytosanitary risk categories, sampling of consignments, developing a strategy to replace the use of methyl bromides, using debarked and bark-free wood in packaging the agricultural and industrial products and establishing of areas of low pest prevalence for fruit flies, as well as making amendments to the glossary of phytosanitary terms.