MEDRC: MIDDLE EAST DESALINATION RESEARCH CENTER http://www.medrc.org.om/
From their homepage, the following describes MEDRC and their mission:
Introduction
The Middle East Desalination Research Center, located in Muscat, the Sultanate of Oman, was conceived out of the Middle East Multilateral Peace Process as an international organization, which is dedicated to basic, applied and sponsored research in the area of desalination technology. As water resources in the region are already under stress and future population and economic growth will require augmentation of supply, the Center will seek to bring together scientists, engineers, water policy-makers and water system operators in the Middle East/North Africa region to work on areas of research that will reduce the cost of desalination. The economy of the Middle East is inextricably tied to desalination of sea water and brackish ground water. In order to sustain the economic growth of the region, desalination will have to play and increasing role in the augmentation of supply.
The mission of the Middle East Desalination Research Center shall be to contribute to the peace process in the Middle East and to the raising of the standard living of the peoples of the Middle East and elsewhere by reducing the cost and improving the technical processes involved in desalination of the water.