Brief Reports

First EESNET Annual Meeting Report.

Second EESNET Annual Meeting Report.

The third EESNET Meeting took place in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, on 3-4 November 2003.

The meeting, with the topic “The Seed Industry and Genetically Modified Organisms” was attended by 250 participants from 25 countries, including the eminent speakers from the international bodies such as ISF, ESA, UPOV, OECD, ISTA and BDP, as well as the representatives of EESNET, ministries of agriculture and other governmental bodies of Eastern Europe.

Furthermore, the Technical Committee of EESNET adopted the proposal to move the EESNET Administration responsibility to Yugoslav Seed Trade Association (YUSEA) starting from November 2003.

It was also agreed that the EESNET meeting in 2004 would be held in Poland.

The Fourth EESNET meeting took place in Poznan, Poland from 14 to 16 November 2004.

The organiser of the meeting was Polish Seed Trade Association (Polska Izba Nasienna-PIN) and the topic of the meeting was «European Seed Industry» with the special focus on the seed industry in the new EU member countries, as well as the protection of intellectual property and control of the seed market.

The discussions also included: comparison of different seed systems, the relation between ESA and EESNET as well as the presentations on public and private sector in EESNET countries, economy and seed sector in countries in transition and harmonisation of seed regulations within EESNET members.

The conference was attended by the respective speakers from the most important international seed organisations and by more than 240 participants from 24 countries.

During the conference, it was also announced that the next meeting in 2005 would be held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The 5th Annual EESNET Meeting took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from 13 -15 November 2005.

The focus of the meeting was Challenges for the Seed Market in an Enlarged Europe. It was attended by 266 participants from 25 countries, including eminent speakers from international bodies such as ESA, ISTA, OECD, as well as the representatives of EESNET and ministries of agriculture.

The following presentations were made:

• EESNET Present, Past and Future
  Dr. Mirjana Milošević
  Secretary General EESNET
• The European Seed Market
  Mr. Garlich von Essen
  Secretary General European Seed Association
• Situation of ISTA in the Eastern European Countries and 
  its relationship to the OECD seed schemes
  Dr. Katalin Ertsey
  Vice president ISTA & Director, National Institute for Agricultural 
  Quality Control of Hungary
• OECD Scheme for the varietal certification or the control 
  of seed moving in international trade
  Mr. Jean-Marie Debois 
  OECD Agricultural Codes and Schemes
   
• Breeding, Seed & Plant Material Production in Bulgaria
  Prof. Atanas Atanassov
  President of ASPM
   
• Executive Agency Plant Variety Testing, Approbation and Seed 
  Control of Bulgaria
  Mrs. Nevena Ivanova
  Executive Director of IASAS
   
• Phytosanitary Control of Seeds and Planting Material in Bulgaria
  Dr. Peter Nikolov
  General Director, National Service for Plant Protection
   

The sixth EESNET Meeting was held in Opatia, Croatia and 212 delegates from 24 countries participated.

The EESNET Secretariat is very grateful to all those who made presentations and to the Croatian Seed Association for the excellent organization of the meeting.

Those interested in the presentations can contact Dr. Ivan Djurkic (i.djurkic@zsr.hr).

The next EESNET meeting will be held in Novi Sad, Serbia from 18-20 Nov 2007.

The seventh EESNET annual meeting took place in Novi Sad, Serbia. B Le Buanec represented ISF. The theme of the meeting was genetically modified crops and there were presentations on their development and use around the world, co-existence, seed testing, genomics and plant breeding.

Due to her ministerial level work, Mirjana Milosevic stepped down from her position as Secretary General of EESNET. Svetlana Balesevic-Tubic was elected as the incoming Secretary General.

The next EESNET annual meeting will take place in Siofek, Hungary (see Calendar of Events).