IGO meeting

The IIR is an intergovernmental organization based in Paris, like of course several agencies of the United Nations Organization or OECD, but also like other small specialized organizations: the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO), the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML). These latter 5 organizations and the IIR have similar status and problems: links with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which guarantees compliance with the international conventions by the different member countries and gives diplomatic benefits, fiscal and human resources questions linked with the diplomatic status, etc. We decided to exchange of lot of information about member countries, policies regarding human resources and the budget and to build an association. We had a meeting with the Director of the United Nations and the intergovernmental organizations in Paris in February 2005, in order to clarify our positions. The main advantage of this new association is probably benchmarking among us for better efficiency.