ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 2, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The African Union Commission and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency in collaboration with One Campaign and the Government of the Republic of Rwanda, on May 1, convened a Breakfast Ministerial Dialogue at the AUC New Complex in Addis Ababa on the margins of the Joint AU Conference of Ministers responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture.
The Dialogue was intended to share the experience of Rwanda, as the first country to sign a CAADP Compact and moving on to the next phase of CAADP implementation. A CAADP Compact encapsulates multi-stakeholder consensus on the key drivers of production, productivity, food and nutrition security as well as poverty eradication.
At the Breakfast Ministerial Dialogue, Her Excellency Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture welcomed the Ministers from Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Liberia as well as representatives of the NEPAD Agency, One Campaign, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Oxfam International and others.
Hon. Dr. Agnes Kalibata, Minister of Agriculture of Rwanda shared the experience of her government and people in prioritization of agriculture, services consolidation, private sector engagement, mutual accountability and rallying partnerships around national CAADP priorities, among others. She said these and more led to the success stories including elevating 1 million people out of poverty within five years. She also mentioned some of the key challenges that Rwanda endured and how they devised ways and means to surmount them.
She further announced that Rwanda would now, after successfully implementing the first phase of CAADP, would be embarking on the second phase of CAADP implementation in June 2014.
Other Ministers also shared their experiences and highlighted the value of mutual learning. They also renewed their commitment to promoting CAADP and optimally leveraging the 2014 AU declared Year of Agriculture and Food Security.
The dialogue was wrapped up by Dr. Sipho Moyo, Executive Director of One Campaign presenting the 10 recommendations of Non State Actors, complemented by Dr Sylvia Muiruri, Director from AGRA, who highlighted increasing access to markets, responsible investment by the private sector and intra-regional trade as well as land policy.
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