Message-ID: <9601021817.AA10189@nywork2.undp.org> Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996 13:17:16 -0500 From: Bob Hart <mailto:bhart@NYWORK2.UNDP.ORG> Subject: e-conf privatization To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
CALL FOR PAPERS AND INVITATION:
INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE ON
PRIVATIZATION AND AGRARIAN REFORM IN RUSSIA
If you have experience in the development of private and public
institutions that support the production, processing and marketing of
agricultural products, either in your own country or in Russia, we would
like to invite you to present a paper and participate in a 3-month
electronic conference beginning in March, 1996. This invitation tells you
how to subscribe to the conference (starting right now December, 1995) and
the issues we will be discussing. If you are willing to send in a short
paper (5-10 pages) on any of the topics described below, please contact:
Alexander Makeev
Director, FADR
Email: mailto:makeev@fadr.msu.ru
Fax/Tel: (7-095) 932-11-82
Conference Organizers
a) The Foundation for Agrarian Development Research (FADR) is a Russian
Non Governmental Organization (NGO) that includes more than 100 member
NGOs and public universities and research institutions. FADR has conducted
numberous studies of agrarian situation in Russia. For example, in 1995
FADR (together with the State Parliament, Local Administration, Farmer
Associations, etc.) organized three international conferences and
participated in numerous other conferences and workshops.
b) INFORUM is an international NGO that supports regional and global
information exchange among institutions developing more sustainable land
use systems.
The Sustainable Agricultural Research and Rural Development Electronic
Forum (SARD Forum) set up by UNDP, FAO, and INFORUM on UNDPts computer in
New York have invited the conference organizers to use their electronic
conferencing service.
Objectives of the Conference
Many people from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of Russia,
senior officials of the Russian Parliament, and many NGOs, Universities,
and Farmerts Associations, etc. have expressed interest in participating
in this conference. Agrarian reform is a complex issue involving
institutional changes at the local, regional, and national level. Many
people and institutions in Russia are very interested in the globalization
of economic processes. Everyone is very interested in having access to the
experience of other countries, especially countries that are undergoing
similar transitions to market economies.
Our specific objectives in this conference are:
a) to provide decision-makers in both public and private institutions that
are part of the current Agrarian Reform process in Russia to access to as
many institutional options as possible
b) within the broader context of Agrarian Reform, to compare the methods
and strategies of privatization that have been implemented in other
countries with the current experience in Russia
English and Russian Language Electronic Conferences
The global English language electronic conference described below will be
implemented concurrently with a Russian language conference which will
take place in the FADR Newsserver. One reason for setting up two separate
conferences is that to read or send Internet mail using cyrilic letters
you will need to use different software. The Russian version will be
be available to everybody who wants to work with cyrillic. Key papers
will be translated and made available in both Russian and English. If you
would like to participate in the Russian Language Conference, and would
like information on how to subscribe and the software you will need,
please contact:
Evgneniy Yakushev
FADR
Email: mailto:Yakushev@fadr.msu.ru
Fax/Tel: (7-095) 932-11-82
Conference Agenda
The global electronic conference on agrarian reform and the privatization
of Russian agriculture will be organized in a "symposia" format where
technical papers will be distributed, but we also hope many people will
ask questions to presenters and comment on related issues. The formal
conference will be preceded by an informal period to allow conferees to
introduce themselves and to briefly describe their experience and
interest in the subject of the conference. The tentative agenda for the
conference is:
December 18, 1995 to March 3, 1996: Subscriptions and Introductions
During this period people will be assisted as they subscribe to the
SARD-ROOM4 Email list on the UNDP computer and (for those who read
Russian) to FADR-NEWS.
March 4 - 10 (one week): Formal Conference Begins: Conceptual Framework
Organizers will present a framework for organizing the discussion of the
agrarian reform and privatization processes. Comments and suggestions will
be welcomed.
March 11- 31 (three weeks): Reform and Privatization of Socioeconomic and
Biophysical Resources that are the basic inputs to agricultural production
Issues: role of private and public institutions involved with the
ownership and control of socioeconomic resources, such as land, labor, and
capital; and biophysical resources, such as water (irrigation), seed,
veterinary products, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.
April 1 - 28 (four weeks): Reform & Privatization Extension and Processing
and Marketing of Agricultural Products
Issues: role of private and public institutions involved with Extension
and other forms of providing technical information to farmers, and the
processing and marketing of agricultural products, including the influence
of international market
April 28 - May 19 (three weeks): Integrated Reform and Privatization
Strategies
Issues: strategies or processes to integrate rural development, agrarian
reform and privatization of the various functions described during the
last few weeks.
May 20 - 26 (one week): Summary, evaluation, final comments
The conference organizers will summarize the information exchanged over
the period of the conference. A questionnaire will be sent out
electronically asking conferees for advice on how to improve the
electronic conferencing process
How to Participate in the Electronic Conference
To participate in this electronic conference you must subscribe to the
SARD-ROOM4 list on the UNDP computer. Send an electronic mail message
with one-line of text (the Subject line is optional) that reads:
subscribe sard-room4 mailto:name@domain
Where "mailto:name@domain" is your Internet Email Address. For example, if your
internet address is: mailto:mary@univerX.edu, the one line of text that you
would send would read: subscribe sard-room4 mailto:mary@univerX.edu. Please
send this one-line Email message to the address:
You will receive an Email message back from the Majordomo Listserver
acknowledging your subscription. You may receive a message back that
your subscription has been sent to the List Moderator for approval
(this occurs when the address that is in the header of your Email message
is different from the address you write in your subscription message).
When your subscription is confirmed you will receive a welcome message
from SARD-ROOM4 asking you to please introduce yourself. You will be
asked to send an Email message with your name, address, institution,
technical interests, etc. to the Email address of the Conference Room,
which is:
We are looking forward to your participation in the conference. Please
feel free to pass this Call for Papers and Invitation on to your
colleagues who are involved in agrarian reform and privatization issues.
Please let us know as soon as you can if you would be willing to share
your experience by preparing a short paper. We hope to be able to publish
the key papers along with a summary of the discussion.
Please feel free to contact any of the conference organizers for more
information or to make any suggestions or comments.
Conference Chair: Dmitir Durmanov; FADR President; mailto:durmanov@dmitri.msk.ru
Conference Moderator: Alex Makeev; FADR Director; mailto:makeev@fadr.msu.ru
Conference Information Manager: Evengeniy Yakushev; mailto:yakushev@fadr.msu.ru
Conference Manager: Bob Hart; mailto:bhart@undp.org
Thank you