[IUFRO RG 7.03 FORENT] 7-03-14 meeting in Tunisia postponed

Dear Colleagues, I am very sorry to inform you that, as a consequence of the political situation in Tunisia, the third meeting of the 7-03-14 IUFRO Goup (MEDINSECT) will not be held this year. Initially planned in May 2011, it is now postponed to may 2012. The four main reasons that have lead the local organizers to this decision are: 1- The security: Although peace and order seem presently to grow, nobody can predcit what the situation will be in 2 or 3 months; 2- The politics: The Ministery to which the meeting is relevant, has other priorities than the MEDINSECT meeting; 3- The sponsoring: Owing to the economic crisis resulting from the political situation, the private sponsors do not seem ready to grant our meeting; 4- The general atmosphere: Many strikes and complaints presently occur in Tunisia regarding improvement of the administrative and financial situations in all categories of people, including among scientists. Attention of everybody is thus focused on these complaints, which is not a favourable situation to organize a scientific meeting. The organizers thank all scientists who had already indicated their interest by sending their pre-registration. We will inform you about the exact date of the meeting, as soon as possible, With our best wishes, Francois Lieutier Leader of the IUFRO 7-03-14 group -- Professeur Francois Lieutier Université d'Orléans Faculté des Sciences, Département de Biologie Laboratoire de Biologie des Ligneux et des Grandes Cultures B.P. 6759 - 45067 Orléans Cedex 2 France francois.lieutier(a)univ-orleans.fr Tel.: 33 2 38 41 72 30 Fax.: 33 2 38 49 43 26