The Institute of Plant Genetics/Section Biotechnology- Leibniz University Hannover visited the faculty of Meterology

The scientific delegation of Prof. Dr. Hans-Joerg Jacobsen, Head of department and Dr. Fathi Hassan from the Institute of Plant Genetics/Section Biotechnology- Leibniz University Hannover visited the faculty of Meterology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture-King Abdulaziz University from Saturday 12.08.1431, where they were welcomed by the Faculty Dean Dr. Abdulrahman Alkhalf, the Head of the Agriculture Department, Dr. Adel Alqurashi and Dr. Saleh Byari.

Several scientific meetings were held to present the work at Hannover University and to discuss different fields of plant biotechnology. A particular focus was on the possibility for further collaboration in the field of plant biotechnology, capacity building and knowledge transfer for crop improvement, especially using advanced biotechnological approaches for developing crops tolerant to salinity and drought.

The main discussion points were on how to use up to date technologies  for  the improvement of horticultural and field crop plants for abiotic stress tolerance, finally culminating in an agreement for future collaboration between both universities parties in the field of plant biotechnology and plant breeding.
 
The delegates had the great opportunity of being welcomed by the University President, Prof. Dr. Osama Tayeb, who thanked them for the extremely valuable visit where he highlighted the importance of such scientific visits to build important cooperation between the two universities. His Excellency viewed the results and the outcome of the meeting where congratulated the Department of Agriculture in Arid Areas for the valuable agreement wishing them all prosperous and advances.

In the end the two parties agreed on finalizing the agreement in its final steps for singing between:
- Department of Agriculture in Arid Area, KAU from the Saudi side
- Institute of Plant Biotechnology, LHU, Germany