World Bank Sustainable Development Forum in Europe - June 14, 2005 - Paris, France

34 representatives of European countries joined CGIAR Chairman Ian Johnson, CGIAR Director Francisco Reifschneider, and IPGRI Director General Emile Frison (representing the CGIAR's 15 Centers) at an informal breakfast hosted during the World Bank's European Forum on Sustainable Development.

The meeting allowed CGIAR leadership to update European constituents on the progress of the CGIAR's reform agenda as well as on other recent key developments while obtaining feedback from European representatives on issues of primary importance. The following topics were addressed during the discussion:

• The importance of disseminating research results in the field
• Current thematic and geographic priorities (notably as concerns African agriculture and rural development challenges) in line with the Group's latest priority-setting exercise
• The relevance of specific research thrusts to poverty reduction objectives