Professor Adel S. El -Beltagy

                                               Chair of the International Dry land Development Commission (IDDC)

                                                Egypt

Professor at Arid Land Agricultural Graduate Studies &Research Institute, Ain Shams University Egypt, Board member of TWAS, Former Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, former Presidents of the Governing Board of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), Chair Executive Board of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Chair, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) (2006-2010).

 Served as Vice Chair/Member of the board,(2007-2011), the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) (2006-2011), and the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board (2004-2005), Director General, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Had been awarded: 2015, Golden Medal of CIHEAM, 2014, Commander of the Order of Agricultural Merit, (France) 2009, Sultan Qaboos 'First Class' Order for Culture, Sciences and Arts 2005, Al-Istiklal Medal by His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein of Jordan, 1993, Fellow of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, U.K.