(Draft proposal)

The Third Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Southeast European Countries (3^rd CMAPSEEC) was held from the 5^th till the 8^th October 2004, in the Congress Centre of the Slovak University of Agriculture (SUA) in Nitra, Slovakia. Leadership in the.comanisation of the 3^rd CMAPSEEC, which is official meeting of the Association for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Southeast European Countries (AMAPSEEC) has been given with trust to our colleagues and members from Slovakia, Dr. Miroslav Haban and Dr. Ivan Šalamon, which were expressing interest for such.comanisation even after the end of the first of our conferences. Their nomination of the Slovak University of Agriculture (SUA, Nitra) for the host of the 3^rd Conference was fully accepted and approved by all relevant managing bodies of the AMAPSEEC. Under their supervision, as well as supervision of our host Prof. Imrich Okenka PhD, Rector of the Slovak University of Agriculture (SUA) in Nitra, and the AMAPSEEC, five working committees were formed with the aim to facilitate conduction of the all activities at the Third Conference. Subsequently, in the very start 57 colleagues from 15 countries were engaged in the .comanisation. Composition of all mentioned committees can be found in the written materials from the Conference. The first announcement was distributed on 23^rd of February and the second one on 28^th of May 2004. Finally, three months later, on 26^th of August, final program and whole spectrum of service information were distributed to potential participants. Along with Book of Abstract, all these data were put to Internet site of the Association. As the previous ones, 3^rd Conference was imagined as international (regional) scientific and professional meeting, open for all those working in the field of MAPs.

Call for papers was addressed to all those interested to prepare short lectures (15 minutes) and posters related to the Conference topics [ecobiology of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP), biodiversity, genepool protection and conservation, pharmacognosy, cultivation and industrial processing, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology, quality control of MAP and MAP products, environment and its influence on MAP, traditional medicine and MAP use]. Along with these contributions,.comaniser has anticipated keeping of several invited lectures to cover all mentioned main conference topics. Book of Abstracts from the 3^rd CMAPSEEC, distributed to participants during the registration (just before the start of the Conference) contained abstracts of 14 invited lectures, 23 short lectures and 140 posters.

Along with the main program, during the second day of the Conference professional excursion to the University farm at Kolíňany and Arboretum Tesarské Mlyňany, was.comanised for all participants and accompanying persons. The last day, on the 8^th September, the 4^th Member's meeting of the AMAPSEEC was held. From the start till the end of the Conference, very rich social and cultural program, consisting of four interesting events was .comanised, too. Welcome cocktail was.comanised on 5^th September in the Bernolák Hostel canteen. Next day, get together party and dinner consisting of traditional Slovak meals was.comanised in motel Zubor. In the evening of the third day of conference, participants were invited to the theatre to see spectacular musical "Adam Šangala", after which at the same place Conference Dinner had been kept.

During the Conference, the majority of all announced contributions (177) were successfully presented. However, plenary lecture PL-05, short lectures L-05, L-09 and L-13 and poster presentations P-001, P-003, P-006, P-011, P-013, P-014, P-018, P-023, P-029, P-030, P-051, P-052, P-056, P-068, P-069, P-070, P-071, P-084, P-098, P-107, P-118, P-121, as well as P-140 and P-141 [announced in the Final Programme (FP)], were not presented. Moreover, somebody tries to set up the presentation on P-121 in the absence of authors, what should be estimated as ultimate arrogance. Due to pressman’s error, made in the Book of Abstracts (BA), where two posters were double counted (notify that P-063=P-099 and P-078=P-110), and presentation of P-032 in the form of plenary lecture (instead of PL-05), actual number of posters was additionally reduced. In return, additional posters were presented: P-140 and P-141 (not those mentioned in the FP, but those from the BA), P-142 (not from FP, nor BA, from Slovenian authors: Rode J. and Kugonič N.), and at least few others from Czech Republic [where in the first case Mikolášková J. was the author, and in the second case authors were Vaculík A., Seidenglanz M. and Odstrčilová L. (Protection of caraway (Carum carvi L.) against harmful.comanisms]. Number of presented plenary lectures was 14 (1 non-presented). Number of presented short lectures was 20 (3 non-presented), while number of presented posters ranged between 115 and 118 (24 non-presented), assuming that in all cases duplicates were excluded. Final clarification of these details and correction of possible mistakes (about presented and non-presented contribution, and especially posters), could be and should be accomplished only with the help of all participants, but first of all authors. From this reason, we will appreciate every comment of yours dealing with this matter.

On the basis of data taken from BA, it should be concluded that in preparation of 177 abstracts for the 3^rd CMAPSEEC 389 authors from 25 countries gave their contribution. Mentioned figures are surely higher, but not yet quite secure. Structure of authors and their contributions for each of the countries is given in Table 1.

From the data given in the Table 1, it should be noticed that 15 announced contributions of authors from 8 countries (Bangladesh, Costa Rica, FYROM, India, Italy, Kazakstan, Norway and Russia) were not presented. Serbian and Montenegrian authors (43), then Romanians (40) and Slovakians (33) announced the biggest number of contributions. However, according of the number of presented contributions Romanians (37) were the most successful, followed by authors from Serbia & Montenegro and Slovakia, which presented 33 and 31 contribution, respectively. Authors from Greece, Czech Republic and Bulgaria presented 15, 15 and 13 contributions, respectively. All remaining countries were represented with less then 5 contributions.

Among near 200 participants (about 85% regularly registered), majority was from the host country – Slovakia (at least a half). Remainder has come from Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland, France, Slovenia, Great Britain, Hungary, Turkey, and probably few other countries. Through their scientific and professional contributions and broad spectrum of other activities at the meeting, they fulfil Organiser’s expectations and justify keeping of such conferences.

After the Opening Ceremony, where representatives of the host, Organising Committee and AMAPSEEC addressed the participants, the first plenary lecture was given by Prof. Jeno Bernath. In the continuations, through several plenary lectures and, following days, several alternating poster and oral presentation sessions, the most significant majority of all announced contribution was very efficiently presented (about 85%).

Keeping of the 4^th Member’s meeting of the Association of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Southeast European Countries has been scheduled for the last day of the Conference. Although available time was rather short (one hour only), it was possible to accomplished discussions on the several given items and made certain solid conclusions regarding the most important ones. To see complete record from the 4^th Member’s Meeting click here.

Registration fees were estimated for the members of the AMAPSEEC to 75 EUR (till June 26) and 95 EUR (after June 26). For non-members these fees were 95 EUR, i.e. 125 EUR (after June 26), with the exception for accompanying persons (75 EUR), and PhD students (55 EUR till June 26, or 75 EUR later). For this amount Organiser provided bag, conference's materials, certificate on attendance, coverage of coffee breaks, free access to all working sessions, as well as Welcome cocktail, Professional tour, Get-together party at motel Zubor, tickets for the theatre, and Conference Dinner. Conference's materials from the meeting consisted of printed Conference Program, Book of Abstract and Information for the participants, as well as promotional written and other materials given by sponsors. In addition,.comanisers provided accommodation for participants at the very favourable prices, starting from 15 EUR/participant/night, assuming accommodation in two-bed rooms in Bernolák Hostel.

List of sponsors, which supported.comanisation of the 3^rd Conference, consisted of dozen of Slovakian companies. These were: Fytopharma a.s., Dukelskych hrdinov 651, 90127 Malacky, Herbex s.r.o. (www.herbex.sk), Agrokarpaty s.r.o., 06545 Plavnica, Jova plus s.r.o., Mačov 549, 97225 Diviaky nad Nitricou, Euro Bagging SK s.r.o., Vašinova 61, 94901 Nitra, Nipek a.s., Šturova 74/138, 94935 Nitra-Mlynarce, Chocolate Products s.r.o., Hlohovska 2, 95141 Nitra, Topvar a.s., Hrušovska ulica 2092, 95514 Topolčany, Agrofera s.r.o., Nitra, Alltech SK s.r.o., Čajkovskeho 2, 94911 Nitra, and Shimadzu, Bratislava.

The 3^rd CMAPSEEC was.comanised in very good agreement with previous decisions, coming out from the 2^nd Conference and the 3^rd Member’s meeting of the AMAPSEEC. During four working days, through the main conference program, participants have an extraordinary opportunity to be informed about the actual efforts in the field of MAPs in the SEE-region and wider. According to the number and quality of presented contributions, the Third Conference was very successful. Subsequently, main and additional program surely fulfilled expectations of the majority of participants. Purpose of keeping such conferences was, once again, fully approved. Simultaneously, activities on selection of the host of the next one, which will be held at the end of spring or beginning of summer 2006, the most probably in the East Romania, provided certainty of their continuity.

AMAPSEEC is extremely thankful to all those, which made possible successful keeping of the 3^rd Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Southeast European Countries (3^rd CMAPSEEC). First of all to our host, Prof. Dr. Ing. Imrich Okenka, Rector of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Dr. Miroslav Habán and Dr. Ivan Šalamon, who leaded whole.comanisation, as well as to sponsors, as well as to the members of all working bodies of the 3^rd CMAPSEEC and all the participants. Among those strongly supporting Conference, working persistently on its successful conductance, names of Ing. Miroslav Haban, PhD, Ing. Milan Polacek, PhD, Mgr. Eva Bafrncova, RNDr. Ivan Salamon, CSc., Ms. Eulalia Vaskova, and Ing. Pavol Otepka should be mentioned with great thankfulness.

Mihailo Ristić MSc, President of the AMAPSEEC, Belgrade, October 24, 2004