Harald K. BERGER
IWGO President;
Federal Office and Research Center for Agriculture; Spargelfeldstraße 191,
P.O.B. 400; A - 1226 Wien, Austria

It is the third time that an IWGO meeting has taken place outside Europe. The group previously met outside Europe in 1974 in the USA and Canada and 1986 in Beijing, China. When Prof. Dr. Serpil KORNOSOR, the Chairwomen of the Organizing Committee, invited IWGO at the XVIIIth meeting in Turda, Romania to come to Turkey the situation in regard to this meeting was not so clear. Things worked out for this meeting and we are all happy to be in Turkey.
A large number of participants responded to the call from Prof. Kornosor to attend the meeting in Adana. More than 16s countries are represented according to the applications received. It is a great pleasure for me to welcome also friends from Russia, and for the first time a participant from Japan. This also indicates the importance of this working group. Our numbers are growing with new members and new countries taking part.
It is remarkable that besides the meetings of our Diabrotica subgroup, also the "big" IWGO meetings are attended by large numbers of people. One of the reasons might be the construction of this the oldest Global - IOBC WG. Established in 1968, it is now in its 31st year of existence. Its importance is regularly acknowledged, and is considered an active and highly productive WG. It is the mixture of general and applied science related to maize production, which makes the WG so attractive to participants. And of course, the primary areas we are dealing with, that being the insects and diseases of maize represent global problems being addressed by fellow scientist.
Although IWGO also organizes meetings of the "IWGO - Diabrotica - subgroup" (1999: Paris, France), the subject Diabrotica will also be discussed during this biannually IWGO meeting. The main pests we are dealing with, at least within the last several years, Ostrinia nubilalis and Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, have become more and more important  Ostrinia because of GMO maize varieties, which are resistant/tolerant to attack by this pest, and Diabrotica because of its recent appearance in Europe. IWGO - originally designed as a small group of scientists mainly involved in resistant breeding, has changed over time. As time has passed more and more entomologists have attended meetings and subsequently fewer breeders have been in attendance. Although breeders still have a part to play in IWGO, the expansion of the group into other areas of maize protection has been healthy.
Other organizations, such as EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization) and FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) have shown interest in the work of IWGO members on Diabrotica. It should be noted that research on this pest has become more and more difficulty due to the well-known political situation in the Balkans. Now, after Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania and perhaps Albania, the pest has reached Italy, the first EU country. This gives additional dimensions to this problem and adds additional challenges as to how the problem should be addressed.
Even though much of our effort have been devoted to the above pests, we must not forget that other pests and problems in maize, such as Ostrinia furnacalis, Sesamia nonagrioides, aphids and others, are important to many of us. In some of the maize growing countries these pests are still more, or at least as important, as O. nubilalis and D. virgifera virgifera.
So I hope that this XX meeting of the International Working Group on Ostrinia and Other Maize Pests will be a successful meeting for each of you. I am sure the papers will be very interesting. As always, this is a good opportunity for friends and colleagues to get together to discuss common problems and matters of interest.