PERSGA has organized a regional training workshop on "Collection and Processing of Environmental Samples for Determination of PCDD/Fs" during the period 27th – 31st of March 2010. The workshop was carried out in Cairo – Egypt in collaboration with the Central Laboratory of residue analysis of pesticides and heavy metals in foods – Ministry of Agriculture. This training comes in the framework of implementation of the regional project "Promotion of strategies to reduce unintentional production of POPs in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden coastal zone" which is implemented in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Twelve participants from the member countries have been trained by a group of experts in the field of collection and analysis of environmental samples from the Ministry of Agriculture and Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency. The workshop included theoretical and practical sessions on the ways of collecting and processing of various air, water and soil samples, preparing them for the analysis of dioxin and furan content. It also included field trips, during which training on various methods and tools used in the collection of environmental samples has been performed.