Liz Dennis and Curt Brubaker were invited to attend the International Cotton Genome Initiative lCGl 2001 workshop in Montpellier France. Dr. Dennis was invited to present a summary of the current state of Cotton Functional Genomics; Dr. Brubaker was invited as member of the lCGl Steering Committee and a Discussion Leader for one of the Workshop sessions.

The International Cotton Genome Initiative is a new organization that came into being during a Cotton Marker Workshop held in Canberra 16-18 February, a workshop partially funded by the CRDC. CSlRO Plant lndustry feel strongly that the lCGl is an important development in cotton research, and that the Australian Cotton Industry must be represented in the ICGI. While CSlRO PI had a member on the Steering Committee (CLB), CSlRO PI felt strongly that the CRDC may want to be involved directly, and sent a letter to Ralph Schulze to this effect (Attachment 1). From a variety of options, CRDC elected to participate in the lCGl 2001 Workshop by sponsoring Drs. Dennis' and Brubaker's travel to the meeting and thus was listed as an lCGl Workshop sponsor.