OPENING ADDRESS

It is an honor and a great pleasure to welcome you to the eighth International Workshop on Fire Blight being held under the auspices of the International Society for Horticultural Science, the Faculty of Agriculture of Ege University in Izmir, the Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council, and the General Directorate of Agricultural Research of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Turkey. As chairman of this workshop I am very pleased to note the many new faces of people who are joining an expanding community involved in the disease, fire blight. For some it is the opportunity to join with those who have been conducting research on fire blight for most of their careers, for others it is the opportunity to use a model organism to study bacterial pathogenesis and yet for others, it is the opportunity to learn how this disease may spread to their countries. In every case, it is important for all of us to gather together in a congenial atmosphere to learn and discuss an important disease which has plagued humankind for hundreds of years as it continues to spread around a world which is rapidly becoming a global community.

This workshop offers the opportunity over the next four days for you to learn new information about the disease and its continuing global expansion, new technologies in detection of the causal agent, fundamental facts of the organism Erwinia amylovora, and possible control methods for the disease. Plant pathologists, horticulturists, plant breeders and molecular biologists will all have the occasion to interact with each other and perhaps forge international working relationships that will ultimately lead to controlling the devastation that fire blight has caused to the world's apple, pear and ornamental plantings.

Fire blight continues to cause major losses for growers in many parts of the world. In 1998 alone, serious losses have been reported in Italy and the fruit-growing region of northwest USA where the loss may be greater than $68 million. A scare that the disease might have spread to Australia was reported in 1997 but was fortunately not confirmed as a threat to the fruit industry. This suggests that authorities in countries where the disease is not present must be ever vigilant in order to prevent the introduction of fire blight. The disease continues to spread in the Middle East and Europe where it has recently been reported from Iran and Spain, respectively. The disease is notably absent from Australia, South Africa and South America at the moment. Fortunately these countries have the additional arsenal to maintain the vigilance and fight the disease through the efforts of those who have attended past workshops and undertaken the research that is necessary to understand and control fire blight. This 8th Workshop continues the process that began 20 years ago in The Netherlands and continues every three years to provide a forum in which fire blight workers from around the world come together to discuss their work on the disease.

You, the participants of this workshop hold the keys to solving the puzzle that is fire blight. The efforts of epidemiologists, molecular biologists, plant breeders, "squirt and spray" specialists and others are all important in combating a disease that wrecks havoc for so many growers around the world. Your participation as a speaker, poster presenter, or participant is important in leading us to a greater understanding of fire blight. At the end of the workshop I hope all of us will feel that we have additional tools to return home and continue the fight against fire blight.

We must pass on our sincere thanks to Drs. Momol and Saygili who have conscientiously worked over the last three years to bring together all the people who have gathered here in Kusadasi to participate in the workshop. For those of us that participated in the pre-workshop tour to Ankara and Cappadoccia and to all of us that will have the opportunity to visit Ephesus on the workshop tour as well as our time here in Kusadasi, we will definitely leave Turkey with a greater understanding of the people, the culture and fond memories of our first workshop in the Middle East. With that in mind we must begin to think ahead to the next workshop. Shall we meet in New Zealand in three years or return to Europe as discussed at our last workshop in Canada? We will discuss this topic at our business meeting tomorrow, however in the meantime I wish you all a very succesful 8th Workshop in Turkey.