Press release - june 27th, 2009

African Ministers renew their commitments to CAADP

Tripoli, 27th, 2009 - The outcome of the CAADP Day will feed into the agenda of the Heads of State at the 13th Session of the Assembly in a couple of days as they address themselves to the theme of the summit, which is ‘Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security", said Erastus Mwencha the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission during his opening remarks today. In attendance at the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Day proceedings which were held at the Corinthia Bab Hotel in Tripoli, Libya where more than 200 participants including African Ministers of agriculture, regional economic communities, civil society organizations development partners and farmers. CAADP is a programme of the African Union’s (AU) New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Under the guidance of the AU-NEPAD, the CAADP Day provided the participants with an opportunity to engage each other on progress and challenges faced to date in the implementation of CAADP.

Speaking on behalf of the host country the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mr. Abubakar Al Man Souri the country’s Minister of Agriculture highlighted the relevance of value- addition and production in up-scaling agriculture in Africa. "We have to increase investments and intra-African trade in agriculture if we are going to achieve sustainable development in Africa", he added. In his remarks to the participants, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, the CEO of NEPAD reiterated the relevance of CAADP to Africa before going on to highlight the role of the private sector in agriculture.

"We also need to boost our regional and domestic markets through the development of policy reforms, institutional innovations and infrastructure investments that can help to raise productivity and profitability in the agricultural sector", said Dr.Mayaki. According to Prof. Richard Mkandawire of the Agriculture Unit at NEPAD, the deliberations and decisions from the CAADP Day will be put forward at the Heads of State Summit as part of the on-going process to renew continental commitments to the CAADP target of increasing agricultural sectoral growth by 6% per annum.

Development partners in attendance called upon the stakeholders of African agriculture to push for the roll out of CAADP implementation at the national-level.

Press release - june 26th, 2009

CAADP Day at the African Union Summit

The 12th Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government of African Union Summit in January 2009 in Addis Ababa took a Decision (Assembly/AU/Dec232 (XII)) selecting the Theme of the 13th Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of African Union to be : "Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security". The following sub themes where position papers are being prepared will be discussed

 Climate Change : Opportunities for enhanced investments and growth of African Agriculture

 Regional Agriculture trade and market systems : Issues and challenges for stimulating economic transformation and growth in Africa

 Investment Financing : Making African Agriculture a viable investment option

 Stimulating participation of the ultra-poor in rural economic activities.

It is also in this regard that the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is convening a ‘Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme’ "CAADP DAY" prior to the start of the Summit.

The Day is to be held on the 27th of June 2009 at the Corinthia Africa Bab Hotel in Tripoli, Libya.

According to Prof. Richard Mkandawire of the Agriculture Unit at NEPAD, "the CAADP DAY is meant to act as a conversation day between African political leaders, farmers, private sector representatives, leaders of think tank institutions, representatives from the diaspora and the development partners".

"This CAADP Day will afford our leaders, the AU-NEPAD and even the development partners an opportunity to engage each other on progress achieved in the implementation of CAADP since 2003 and also explore the challenges that will delay the process, if not addressed," he added.

More than 200 participants are expected including the CEO of NEPAD Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Commissioners from the AU, African Ministers of Agriculture, development partners and farmers organisations.