Concerning the.comanisation and development of the 4^th Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Southeast European Countries

The 4^th Conference of the Association for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Southeast European Countries (AMAPSEEC) was held in Iasi (Romania) between the 28^th and the 31^st May 2006. The responsibility of.comanising this meeting was assumed by the following three Romanian universities: "Grigore T. Popa" University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi (Professor Dr. Ursula STANESCU), the University of Bacau (Professor Dr. Gogu GHIORGHITA), and "Al.I.Cuza" University of Iasi (Professor Dr. Constantin TOMA). We have initiated all the formalities for.comanising the conference in autumn 2005 by launching the first circular (call) to the potential participants in the meeting. The first circular contained the announcement of the event, the location, the conference’s committees, and the main aims proposed by the.comanisers.

The second circular included the thematic of the conference and of its sections, the preliminary programme and the daily schedules, the deadline for submitting the abstracts and the full papers, and the deadline for registration and fee payments. The.comanising committee was very cooperative and accepted the paper submitted even after the deadlines stipulated in the 2^nd circular. The participants had the possibility to be connected to the ongoing events of the Conference by means of the permanently updated information posted on the AMAPSEEC’s site (Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro) and the University of Bacau’s site (Romania). The Conference attracted a great interest from the professional environment, many colleagues from the Southeast European countries expressing their interest in the conference, and other colleagues from Austria, Germany, United Kingdom, India, etc, as well. Before the Conference there was a permanent exchange of information, opinions and suggestions between the.comanisers and the President of AMAPSEEC, Mr. Mihailo Ristic (Serbia and Montenegro).

The receiving of the participants took place on the 28^th May 2006 at the "Iustin Moisescu" Hall of the Metropolitan Church of Moldavia in Iasi, and the sessions of the Conference took place on 29^th and 30^th May at "Providenta" Centre of Conference, Iasi (plenary presentations in two sections and a poster session). At the opening ceremony the following persons delivered welcome speeches: Mihailo Ristic – the president of AMAPSEEC; Professor Dr. Cristian Dragomir – the Rector of the "Gr.T. Popa" University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi; Professor Dr. Gogu Gh.comhita - the Rector of the University of Bacau; Professor Dr. Brigitte Kopp – the University of Vienna. Professor Dr. Ursula Stanescu, the Vice-rector of the "Gr.T. Popa" University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi, presented a remember upon the previous Conferences. The workshops took place in plenary session and in two sections. Section I gathered contributions on the following topics: Cultivation, amelioration and industrial processing of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP); Biodiversity, genepool protection and conservation of MAP; Ecobiology and quality control of MAP. Within the 2^nd section there were presented lectures on the topics such as: Phytochemistry and pharmacognosy; Pharmacology and toxicology; Quality control of MAP products and medicine traditional use of MAP.

In the programme of Conference there were announced 173 papers, out of which 6 were PL, 44 were OP and 123 were posters. From the initially announced number of papers, 5 OP and 14 posters there were not presented within the 1^st section, and 2 OP and 12 posters within the 2^nd section, as well. One OP in the 1^st section was presented as a poster (Maksimovic et al.), and two posters initially proposed in the 2^nd section were orally presented (Brad et al. and Laczko-Zold et al., Romania). The paper "Fatty acid composition of two Athamanta turbith subspecies" (author: Tomic et al., Serbia and Montenegro) was omitted in the programme, but was presented as a poster. The conference was attended by a number of 59 foreign specialists and by 180 Romanian specialists.

At their arrival, the guests received the materials of the symposium, including 2 CD, one containing the abstracts and other containing the full papers. The Conference proceedings printed as the Book of abstracts (112 pages) contains 170 abstract (85 of each section), and the Proceedings of the 4^th CMAPSEEC (611 pages) contains 115 papers (59 of the 1^st section and 56 of the 2^nd section).

During the Conference, some Romanian firms involved in the plant-based drug production had their exhibition stalls, such as: IPSEN, "PLANTAVOREL" Piatra-Neamt, Ewopharma AG, IassyFarm Iasi, and Tis Farmaceutic Bucharest. On the 30^th May, in the fist part of the day, a round-table took place under the coordination of Professor Ursula Stanescu. The topic of the round-table was the phytotherapy. During the afternoon, there was the meeting of the AMAPSEEC members and the official closing of the 4^th Conference AMAPSEEC. Its president, Mr. Mihailo Ristic, led the AMAPSEEC meeting. Mr. Ristic presented a brief report on the main problems, achievements and prospects of the Association, on the one hand, and some financial aspects, on the other hand. It was debated the request of Romania to.comanise a Romanian local branch of AMAPSEEC in Iasi. Professor Ursula Stanescu was asked to present the arguments for this demand. After extensive discussions this proposition was voted and accepted by the AMAPSEC members.

Afterwards, Mr.Ristic invited the colleagues from abroad to support with arguments their intention to.comanise the 5^th Conference of AMAPSEEC. Dr. Gabriela Ruzickova from the "J.Gr.Mendel" University of Agriculture and Forestry of Brno (Czech Republic), Dr. Ilkay Orhan from the "Gazi" University of Ankara (Turkey); Dr. Dea Baricevic from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) have presented the offers on behalf of their institutions. The preliminary discussions have established Brno (Czech Republic) as possible location for the 5^th Conference of AMAPSEEC (in 2008), and Ankara (Turkey) for the 6^th Conference (in 2010).

At the end of the meeting, Professor Gogu Gh.comhita presented a preliminary report on the main outcomes of the 4^th Conference AMAPSEEC, and then the president Mihailo Ristic declared the meeting closed.

The 31^st May was dedicated to a trip to the Voronet and Agapia Monasteries and to the "Ion Creanga" Memorial House in Humulesti (Tg. Neamt). This was a good opportunity for our foreign guest to have a direct contact with the tourist attractions in the North of Moldavia, and the possibility to meet the Romania’s people and natural beauties.

The.comanisers have already received some messages of congratulations from abroad for the way in which the conference activities were.comanised and developed during this prestigious scientific meeting, and for the Romanian hospitality, as well.

Bacau, June 22, 2006