Following up from the preliminary conclusions and recommendations of the “Preparatory Action on EU plant and animal genetic resources”, a letter from the European genetic resources networks was sent to the European Commission.

The Letter has been signed by the coordinators of the European networks, including crops (ECPGR), animals (ERFP), forest (EUFORGEN) and microorganisms (MIRRI) and was sent on 18 November 2016 to the attention of Mr Mihail Dumitru, Deputy Director-General , Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The letter encourages the EC to capitalize on the expertise of the existing genetic resources networks and is offering a close collaboration between the EC and the above-mentioned networks and their programmes for the development of a “EU Agrobiodiversity Strategy”.