Distinguished Guests,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to express my warmest welcome for all the participants at the 4th General Assembly of the Union of European Academies for Science applied to Agriculture, Food and Nature and associated Workshop on “Soil Fertility and the Future of Agriculture in Europe”.
UEAA has not a very old history. It began on the occasion of the meetings in Bologna, on 13-14 November 1999 and respectively in Florence, on 20 October 2000, when 14 founding members originating from 13 countries (Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Great Britain, Russia, Poland, Greece, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia and Romania) signed the Constitutive document of the Union, having as the first elected President of UEAA, the Academician Franco SCARAMUZZI, President of the Accademia dei Georgofili - Italy. The main objectives set up for the future activity of UEAA were:
- To promote academic activities related to the science of agriculture, the production of food and conservation of resources;
- To promote the production and dissemination of knowledge, the new technologies, innovation and sustainable development;
- To encourage the exchange of information among members;
- To ensure the production of correct information for the proper education of public opinion particularly for younger consumers;
- To promote relationships among scientists throughout the world;
- To promote the acceptance of scientific methodology;
- To give advice and make recommendations to opinion formators and decision makers in Europe and all over the world.
The second UEAA General Assembly was in Paris, on 18 October 2002, under the Presidency of Prof. Jean-Marc BOUSSARD, President of the French Academy of Agriculture. The Scientific Session associated this event was on "The Reconciliation of the Scientific Society with Agriculture". At this General Assembly, new members of Belarus, the Ukraine and Lithuania' Academies of Agricultural Sciences were accepted in UEAA.
Another successful UEAA event was the Meeting in Florence - Italy, in 2003, associated with the Anniversary of 250 years since the foundation of Accademia dei Georgofili.
The 3rd UEAA General Assembly was in Moscow and St. Petersburg, on 24-25 June 2004, under the Presidency of Acad. Gennady ROMANENKO, RAAS President, associated with the anniversary of 75 years since the foundation of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. On this occasion, a prestigious Plenary Session and three round tables on "Genetic Resources and Specific Technologies" were organized.
The Steering Committee Meetings in Moscow (25 October 2004) and Paris (11 October 2005) approved the organization of the 4th UEAA General Assembly and Scientific Seminar on "Soil fertility and the future of agriculture in Europe".
The current event in Bucharest, (25-27 June 2006), devoted to the 4th UEAA General Assembly and the Scientific Seminar associated to the General Assembly is related to "Soil fertility and the future of agriculture in Europe" is organized by the Romanian Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences "Gheorghe Ionescu - Sisesti"
As it was suggested in Paris, there were selected 8 papers for the presentation in plenary session and 12 for poster presentation.
The main objectives during this event are to find optimum solutions for reinforcing the UEAA activity, considering the discussions and proposals both in Bucharest and at the Steering Committee Meetings in Moscow and Paris.
For the future activity of UEAA, the following main actions can be mentioned as first proposals:
- To make all efforts in order to obtain the status of "corresponding body" in the frame of FAO and the recognition by the new created Standing Committee for Agricultural Research (SCAR) of the European Community. Letters on these issues addressed to Director DIOUF and Director PATERMANN are considered as very useful and will be finalized during next weeks.
- Promotion of news by updating the UEAA web site (www.euracadagri.org) is also considered as a priority for information exchange among members. Maintaining the web site by the Member "in charge", which has the UEAA Presidency, is considered a viable solution.
- Formulating common points of view calling the attention of different European bodies in relation with agri-environmental issues in debate.
- Attracting new UEAA members and selecting the Seminar topics in relation with the agricultural specificity of the host country.
- Encouraging relationships among scientists, especially by participating in consortia of project proposals with agri-environmental topics according to different calls of FP7.
These are only a few ideas but we are expecting any other proposals during the development of the Seminar in order to improve the future activity of UEAA.
Finally, wishing the conference a great success, I wish all foreign guests a very pleasant and fruitful staying in our country.
Thank you.
