At the last day of the AFITA conference in Bangalore I was called to chair the closing plenary and to participate in a following Panel discussion.
During the closing plenary all sessions and workshops reported back and gave some recommendations for the further work.
At the panel participated beside AFITA colleagues Ehud Gelb and Seishi Ninomya also Dr Jain, Assistant Director General ICAR, Dr. Yaduraju, the NAIP coordinator, three Vice Chancellors (Dr. Goud, Dr. Kulkarni and Dr Sheelavantar) and Dr. Patil, tghe elected President of AFITA and Dr. Reddy from the Karnataka States Seeds Certification Agency, Bangalore.
The Panel discussed mostly the adoption of ICT. Several speakers underlined the necessity of investment. Others, others, also myself, emphasized on referring to user needs when speeking about adoption of ICT.

The meeting was closed with a formal session, in which also the Indian Union Minister for planning participated. He gave a long speech about the state of Indias industrial and agricultural development. Surprisingly it was he who was selected to present the conference gift to me, a clear sign who important FAO is considered in India and it underlines our responsibility as FAO employees.