OPENING ADDRESS

It is a great honour and a great pleasure as well to extend a warm welcome to all of you at the 3^rd International Workshop on Fire blight, organized by the Working Group on Fire blight Research of the International Society for Horticultural Science. The pleasure of welcoming you is shared with Dr. Jean Pierre Paulin, INRA - Angers, secretary of the Working Group and at the same time the principal organizer of this workshop.

I would like to address a special word of welcome to you, Dr. Coleno, Head of the Department of Plant Pathology of the 'Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique', of the Ministry of Agriculture of France. We highly appreciate that you could manage to be here and that you are willing to address the meeting.

I would like to call to mind now that the first preparations for the present workshop here at Bordeaux started short after the previous meeting in 1980. We want to express our sincere gratitude to the Government of France and in particular to Dr. Marrou, Directeur Scientifique de l'Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), for their generosity to support it through a generous grant as well as by enabling us to make use of the splendid facilities of INRA - Bordeaux.

It would have been a pleasure as well to welcome Mr. Jean Bulit of the Station de Pathologie Végétale de l'INRA, Bordeaux, who has taken much effort for many local arrangements, also for the social events of our programme. We are really very grateful to him for his valuable suggestions as well as for spending so much of his energy to make the many arrangements.

We feel very honoured, Mr. van der Borg, that you in your function of Secretary-General of the ISHS attend at least part of our workshop. I know that you are very much aware of the importance of fire blight, the subject of our meeting. Your presence here is encouraging for us to continue joint efforts in the framework of the ISHS Working Group aimed at a reduction of the importance of fire blight, although in case of complete success the ISHS Working Group would of course become redundant.

Finally I want to welcome most cordially Mr. Michel Ridé, chairman of the Group of the EEC on Fire blight of Pomaceous Plants. We appreciate your cooperation in co-ordinating your and our meeting here at Bordeaux. I am confident that this co-ordination will appear to be fruitful for both working groups.

It is a great pleasure to see that so many participants have come to this workshop, many who participated in the previous or even in the foregoing two meetings as well as quite a number of new members, among others from Egypt. Once again, welcome!

During the 2^nd meeting in 1980 I found it surprising that the pattern of distribution of fire blight between 1977 and 1980 did not change much with the exception of the focus here in the southwest of France, discovered in 1978.

We can still be surprised that further long distance spread of fire blight remained limited. Nevertheless, fire blight moves forward. Therefore, a package of measures to prevent introduction, to limit spread and to minimize economic losses to crops with at the same time minimal unfavourable consequences for international trade and for the environment remains of high priority. It is a great challenge for fire blight research to provide adequate information as a basis for effective but realistic meassures to suppress and contain fire blight.

I have no doubts that all of us are greatly indebted to in particular two men in this room, namely Dr. Jean Pierre Paulin for his outstanding efforts and dedication as secretary and principal organizer of this workshop, and to Dr. Tom van der Zwet for all his effective work as North American representative of the ISHS Working Group as well as for the highly appreciated work as editor of the Newsletter.

I address a special word of thanks to Mrs. Danielle Olivier, who I know has played a key role in the organization of this meeting. Your efforts and dedication are highly appreciated.

Also a vote of thanks to Dr. Gordon Bonn from Canada for his generous help in arranging the program.

Last but not least I thank all who prepared a paper or poster for this workshop as well as all others, not yet mentioned by name, who contributed in one way or another to arrange this workshop.

May I end this opening address with the wish that the workshop will appear to be very useful and pleasant for us and unpleasant for Erwinia amylovora.

G.S. Rossje,
Chairman ISHS Working Group
on Fire blight Reseach