The opening of the Forum was graced with the presence of  His Excellency Monsieur Niamien N’Goran, Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance of the government of  Côte d’Ivoire and the closure by His Excellency Monsieur Akele Ezan, Minister for Economic Infrastructure  of Côte d’Ivoire.

The participants to this Forum came from many different fields and places. Among them were:

• professional climatologists and environmentalists, policy makers, users of meteorological information and NGO's from 18 African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Chad, Togo, Mauritania, Kenya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Africa du South;
• other scientists including experts in climate applications, from international and regional institutions such as the CEA, WMO/CLIPS, CIMMS, NCSU, University of Zululand, IRI for Climate Prediction, ECMWF, NOAA, UKMO, Météo-France, ORSTOM/Brest, LMD, ACMAD, AGRHYMET, ICRISAT, IITA, ADRAO, MEDIAS, START, MIT, …).
• There were 170 people attending the Forum. Please see the summary of the statistics extracted therefrom. The complete list of participants is also available. The  Forum benefited from the logistical assistance of the World Bank in Abidjan.
• The CLIVA-Africa group took the opportunity offered by the  Forum to hold the CLIVAR -AFRICA Panel Meeting from 7 to 9 May 1998.