The Internet based information services of FAO and the IT/IM related activities of the FAO SEUR in the CEE region

Summary of the offline presentation
by Michal Demes, Information Systems Officer, FAO SEUR

The WAICENT

The World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT) is FAO's strategic inter-departmental programme on information management and dissemination. WAICENT provides a corporate information platform for the acquisition, updating and dissemination of FAO information.
Promoting access to FAO's information has been a priority for WAICENT since its creation. Using state-of-the-art technologies, WAICENT facilitates the exchange of information within the organization, its decentralised offices and Member Nations.

FAO Subregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe (SEUR)

The political and economic changes underway in Central and Eastern Europe from the end of the 80s, and the decentralisation policy of FAO led to the decision to establish - within the frame of the Regional Office for Europe - a subregional office in this geographic area.
SEUR was established in Budapest, Hungary in October 1995 and covers the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The office also keeps contact with three countries in the region, which have observer status, these are Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine.

AgroWeb Central and Eastern European Network

Considering the lack of information on Internet about agricultural topics in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the agricultural information organisations and experts of the region have decided to collect and provide information on agricultural institutions and other important agriculture-related subjects
to help users to find information and contacts within Central and Eastern Europe and the former USSR.
The AgroWeb pages provide www links, if available, to these national institutes and in some cases to other relevant national Web sites. National sites are created and updated by national experts.
The AgroWeb CEE was an initiative of the FAO in Central and Eastern Europe, involving 22 countries.