ENPARD South regional seminar “Agriculture and rural development: Sharing best practices and experience with research actors” 16 and 17 October, 2014 - Brussels Be i t for reasons of food security or s ocial stability, a griculture and rural areas now represent a priority both for governments a nd for the technical and financial partners. The ENPARD i nitiative proposed by the Europea n Uni on to the nei ghbouri ng countri es i s a nota bl e i l l us tra ti on of thi s . It i s a gainst this backdrop, and because the EU boasts a n a mbitious res ea rch progra mme (7th Fra mework Progra mme for Res earch a nd Development i n the past and Horizon 2020 a t present), tha t i t s eemed a ppropri a te to orga ni s e a regi ona l s eminar with the general aims of promoting the ENPARD initiative wi thi n the fi el d of res ea rch a nd hel pi ng cons ol i da te rel a tions between research a nd devel opment wi th rega rd to the a gri cul tura l a nd rura l i s s ues i n the Medi terra nea n. Bui lding on the European programmes, thi s s emi na r propos es , i n a n initial sequence, to exa mi ne whi ch res ul ts recent res earch ca n provide today wi th a vi ew to fuelling the thought a nd discussion process generated by the ENPARD initiative and whi ch new questions the ENPARD i nitiative might ra ise i n the field of research with a vi ew to future calls for proposals withi n the fra mework of the Horizon 2020 programme. A second sequence dea ls with the i nstitutionnal organisation of res ea rch i n ENPARD countries a nd the coordination s chemes for research (both a t national and regional l evel, with delegated opera tors , …) di scussing needed evolutions i n order, on the one hand, to reinforce the operational synergies between res ea rchers a nd s ta keholders of a gricultural a nd rural policies a nd on the other to promote, a t a genera l l evel , convergences betwe en res ea rch pri ori ti es a nd needs of a ctors . The 16th a nd 17th of October , this s eminar will bring together in Brussels more than a hundred participants, half of whom will be res earchers and research directors within the Mediterranean a rea while the other ha l f wi l l cons i s t of s ta kehol ders of a gri cultural and rural policies from nine nei ghbouri ng Medi terra nea n countri es (Morocco, Al geri a , Tuni s i a , Li bya , the Leba non, Jordan, Pa lestine, Israel and Egypt). Certain representatives of i nternationa l res ea rch i ns ti tuti ons (i n pa rti cul a r CGIAR) wi l l a l s o be i nvi ted. The s eminar is jointly organised by the CIHEAM-Ins ti tut Agronomi que Médi terra néen de Montpel l i er (IAMM) a nd the European Commission, the Directorates General for Agri culture a nd Rural Development, Development a nd Coopera ti on a nd Res ea rch a nd Innova ti on. During this sequence, discussions will be initiated by the researchers who will present the conclusions and lessons for agriculture and rural development which can be drawn from current research, identifying the challenges which exist for the different themes explored, the responses to these challenges provided by the field of research and the areas of uncertainty requi ring more in-depth research. have been identified which refer to different European research programmes and which appear relevant in relation to the ENPARD initiative: l i nki ng a gri cul tura l a nd rura l pol i ci es to the ma rkets a nd terri tori a l economi e s Each of these themes will open with an introduction lasting 30 minutes designed to present the issue, either in general or calling on short summary presentations of one or two research projects. A debate will then be initiated between the participants chaired by a facilitator who will be responsible for organising constructive discussions highlighting a set of results, observations and recommendations intended both for researchers and the stakeholders of development. This sequence will begin with the presentation of a status report on the existing dialogue and cooperation at national level between researchers and stakeholders of agricultural and rural policies. The debate will then be widened to incorporate the regional research coordination tools and their application in the dialogue with decision makers/stakeholders in the field of development. Each debate will take the form of a round table. About forty researchers from completed or on-going research programmes will be invited to attend the seminar, some of them introducing the themes before the debate. As far as possible, we will look for equilibrium between South and North of the Mediterranean researchers. In order to ensure the presence of as many programmes as possible, researchers will be asked to assume the cost of their participation (travel and acc ommodation).The ENPARD contract will prioritize the financing of researchers from the South, from completed programmes, etc. Subtotal: about 45 participants For each of the 9 countries concerned, the delegation invited to Brussels will comprise as far as possible:  One person from the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for agricultural and rural policies,  One person in charge of the agronomic research policy (from the Ministry of Agriculture),  One person from the Ministry of Research,  One recognised researcher*,  One representative of the professionals ,  One representative of the civil society. Sub-total: about 54 participants *some of these researchers may be drawn from the participants of the research programmes invited  10 participants from the relevant DGs and departments of the European Commission (DG Agri, DG Research and innovation, DG DevCo, Leader,…) in charge of the Euro-Med cooperation and political dialogue,  10 participants from the CIHEAM,  other participants from the Member States, professional agricultural organisations at a European level (Cooperatives Europe, COPA-COGECA, …), international organisations (CGIAR, OECD,…), etc. Sub-total: about 25 participants. Due to the size of the meeting room, the number of participants cannot exceed 120. DAY 1: OCTOBER, the 16th Opening session by : John Clarke, Director for International Bilateral relations, DG Agri Francesca Cionco, Agricultural Expert at the Italian Representation in Bruxelles, Italian Presidency of the EU Intervention of Cosimo Lacirignola, General Secretary of CIHEAM Presentation of the ENPARD initiative (Stéphane Halgand, DG DevCo) Presentation of Horizon 2020 (Hans-Joerg Lutzeyer, DG Research and innovation) Coffee break Thematic discussions: Policies and markets: linking agricultural and rural policies to the markets and territorial economies Introduction to the theme by Boubaker Thabet, INAT Presentation of 2 projects: SUSTAINMED (Michel Petit, CIHEAM IAMM) et MEDPRO (Rym Ayadi, CEPS) Debate moderated by Boubaker Thabet, INAT Lunch Territorial innovations for rural development Introduction to the theme by Khaled Abbas, INRAA Presentation of 3 projects: VALERIE, CATCH-C (Hein Ten Berge, Wageningen University) and CLAIM (Davide Viaggi, Bologna University) Debate moderated by Khaled Abbas, INRAA Coffee break Sustainable agricultural systems and management of natural resources Introduction to the theme by Hatem Belouchette, CIHEAM - IAMM Presentation of 2 projects: SOLINSA (Talis Tisenkopfs, Baltic Studies Center) and FARMPATH (Pavlos Karanikolas, Athens University) Debate moderated by Hatem Belouchette, CIHEAM - IAMM DAY 2: OCTOBER, the 17th Institutional approaches and research coordination programmes: Introduction to the theme: Perspectives for a better dialogue between the stakeholders of research and the stakeholders of agricultural and rural development (Thomas Price and/or Mark Holderness, GFAR) The organisation of research in the EuroMed countries (session moderated by Philippe Ellul, CGIAR) Points of view of EuroMed countries Algeria Egypt Spain France Italy Jordan Lebanon Morocco Tunisia L.Fettoum M. Nawar E. Freitas Alves P. Grenier M. Montedoro L. Jraisat K. Makkouk S.Bakkali M. Darghout Director of the Center for scientific and technical studies of Biskra Professor and Senior Adviser, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Cairo Researcher, Spanish Office for Science and Technology Head of office, MAAF/General Directorate for teaching and research Expert, Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy Professor researcher, University of Jordan Advisor for Agriculture and Environment, CNRS Head of the General Directorate for teaching, development and research, MAPM President of IRESA Coffee break In the framework of ENPARD and H2020 programmes, debate on:  How to better identify the needs of actors in terms of research and how to foster operational synergies?  What level of intervention: promoting devolution/decentralisation for a better cooperation between research and development actors?  How to promote the transfer of research results and reinforce the capacity of actors to valorise/adopt/adapt these results? Lunch What roles for the regional research coordination tools? (Session moderated by Nicolas DANDOIS, DG Agriculture and Rural Development) General presentations of the research coordination tools with a focus on the involvement of non-researcher actors (Fadila Boughanemi, DG Research and innovation) Round table with a panel of coordination programmes and institutions : MEDSPRING ERANET MED Claudio Bogliotti , CIHEAM-IAMB ARIMNET 2 Florence Jacquet, INRA RURAGRI Egizio Valceschini, INRA Simone Schiller (RETHINK), Research Institute for rural development FACCE JPI Isabelle Albouy, INRA  Lessons learnt and good practices given by those initiatives to the regional coordination of research  How those initiatives manage to foster dialogue between all stakeholders involved in agricultural and rural development?  What coherence and synergies between those initiatives, H2020 and ENPARD? What are the main considerations for the future? Based on the discussions of the seminar, this latter debate is to identify priorities for the research agenda, and to summarize the proposals for a better coordination between stakeholders of research and agricultural and rural development in the Mediterranean region. Coffee break Summary of the discussions and conclusions (Pascal Bergeret, CIHEAM - IAMM) Closing session (Patrik Kolar, Head of Unit of agri-food chain in RTD, F Directorate, DG Research and Innovation)