Special Page Front Page

Statement By H.E. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace
Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture

On the occasion of The International Conference towards Research Agenda for Global Food and Nutrition Security

8 May 2015
Milan, Italy

H.E. Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth andSports, responsible for the Joint Research Centre

H.E. David J. Lane, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies in Rome

H.E. David Wilkinson, EU Commissioner General for Expo 2015

Mr. Vladimír Šucha, Director General, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Mr. Franz Fischler, Chairman, EU Scientific Steering Committee for Expo 2015

Mairead McGuinness, Vice-President in charge of Information and Communication Policy; responsible for Science and Technology Options Assessment

Representatives of Farmers’ Organizations,
Private Sector Representatives,
Civil Society Representatives,

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to register the appreciation of the African Union Commission to the European Commission for organizing this international conference and offering the space to debate on the theme of the 2015 Women and Expo: “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” for a better life for our people on our planet.
My gratitude also goes to the Municipality of the 2015 Milan Expo for holding this successful event.

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, allowme to refer to facts pointing to the importance of agriculture for African citizens’ shared prosperity and improved livelihoods.
Africa’s population is growing by 3 percent per year, while economic growth is strong with the income growth of about 5 percent per year on average. The African market is close to 1 billion people including 123 million middle class consumers. In addition, the fast rate of urbanization in Africa offers tremendous opportunities for agri-business industries. However, more than USD40 billion per year is spent on food importation from the rest of the world to meet Africa’s growing needs, while we could have invested the same amount in Africa’s agriculture toproduce food, create more jobs and business opportunities on our continent, particularly for our youth and women.
Africa is endowed with abundant land and water resources suitable for agriculture,and we boast of having 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land but again this is not yet fully and optimally utilized. Currently, only 4 percent of available water resources area is being used for agriculture and our level of irrigation remains the lowest of all regions of the world.
It is a fact that available technologies can significantly increase agricultural productivity both on farms and along agri-food value chains. Today, an increasing population of African educated youth and women are eager to be involved in innovative and gainful entrepreneurship and employment in agriculture.
Engaging and empowering them in order to bring their dreams into reality is a core objective of the African Union. We seek to achieve this through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). In so doing we will be contributingtowards the realization of the commitments that AU Heads of State and Government took in June 2014 in the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Africa Agriculture Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods. I must add that this is within the framework of Africa Agenda 2063.

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are all aware that Science, Technology and Innovations are vital for the Transformation of Agriculture in Africa. The African Union considers as critically important the role of science, technology and innovations in enhancing agricultural productivity, competitiveness and market access in Africa, and we are convinced that we have to invest more resources into Research & Development initiatives for agriculture
There have been several achievements that have been accomplished in the adoption of science and technology applications for agriculture in Africa during the past decade such as:
• Public sector Investment in AR4D has increased by 40% over the past decade in a number of countries.
• Science and technology is already making a positive difference in Africa contributing to increases in productivity of staple foods, diversification into higher value crops as well as in the ‘greening’ of the arid areas. This is proff that more can be achieved with greater investment.
• There is more openness by researchers and National Agricultural Research Systems(NARS) in recognizing the role of farmers in knowledge generation and decision-making.
• The number of researchers with the requisite capacity has increased on the continent.

However, Africa’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda needs more significant support from the Science, technology and innovation for agricultural productivity, Post-harvest loss reduction, value chain development, Climate Change adaptation,sustainable natural resources management, understanding and leveraging markets, and taking into account sociology in production systems, among others.

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The “Malabo Declaration” that I just mentioned was the climax of the manifestation of the 2014 AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security. Building on the AU 2003 Maputo Declaration that brought forth CAADP, the AU 2014 Malabo Declaration adopted the following seven key commitments for sustaining the CADP momentum):
1) Recommitment to the Principles and Values of the CAADP Process;
2) Commitment to Enhancing Investment Finance in Agriculture;
3) Commitment to Ending Hunger in Africa by 2025;
4) Commitment to Inclusive Agricultural Growth and Transformation to contribute to halving Poverty by the year 2025;
5) Commitment to Boosting Intra-African Trade in Agricultural commodities and services;
6) Commitment to Enhancing Resilience of Livelihoods and Production Systems to Climate Variability and other related risks;
7) Commitment to Mutual Accountability to Actions and Results.
Upon the request of the African leaders, the African Union Commission and NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) developed an Implementation Strategy and Roadmap (IS&R) that will guide the translation of the 2025 vision and goals of Africa Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation into concrete results and impact.

As some of you might be aware, the June 2014 AU Summit also endorsed the Science Agenda for Agricultural Research in Africa. The Science Agenda is the specific strategy on how to manage Science technology and Innovations to achieve the Malabo Declaration Goals for agricultural transformation in Africa, increasing production and productivity while at the same time reducing the drudgery that women hitherto endure as they continue to play a predominant role in Africa’s agricultural development..

The science Agenda is as well the pillar on Agriculture and Food Security of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy of Africa (STISA) which is the overall framework for Africa for effective Science technology and Innovations. The S3A further strengthens the link between CAADP and the STISA which are both committed to Agricultural Research for Development.

Therefore, the Africa’s priorities for Science, Technology and Innovations to significantly contribute in Africa’s Agricultural transformation are already identified in the Post Malabo, Implementation Strategy and Roadmap, the STISA and more specifically in the Science Agenda.

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The African Union Commission, therefore, welcomes this ongoing initiative which explores ways for Europe and Africa to collaborate on further development of mechanisms for enhancing Science technology and Innovations through:

• Research prioritization to ensure that knowledge is generated across the complex global agri-food system with the highest positive impact for economic, public and environmental health.
• Developing instruments for aligning complex research challenges across multiple societal needs and across space (within and between member states and beyond).
• Promoting a sophisticated and inclusive innovation culture building on European Innovation Partnerships, particularly via facilitating a sustainable bio-economy and sharing related science and institutional knowledge internationally.
• Improvement of communication and knowledge exchange that is inclusive and respectfulof cultural complexity.
• Developing models of governance for delivering sustainable agriculture and nutritionfrom local to supra-national scales.

This event is, therefore, timely considering that within the context of the College-to-College discussions last month between the African Union Commission and European Commission, it was agreed to mobilize resources for the implementation of the research and Innovation partnership and motivate our respective Member States to do likewise for science, technology and innovation to contribute effectively and significantly to Africa Agricultural Transformation.

We look forward to seeing the EU initiative link to CAADP through the Africa Agriculture Science Agenda that the AU Heads of State and Government adopted in June 2014 in Malabo.

The College-to-College discussions also appreciated the progress made towards the establishment of a jointly funded EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership with a focus on Food and Nutrition security. It responds adequately to the long term- AU Agenda 2063 with its instruments, namely CAADP and STISA, and the EU common Agricultural Policy.
Let us now “Walk the Talk” for the desired concrete results and impacts.

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The African Union Commission once again welcomes this initiative and stands ready to collaborate with our development partners, particularly with European Commission to strengthen and implement the ongoing initiatives for the achievement of the Malabo Goals towards building an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.
I thank you.

HIGH LEVEL THEMATIC DEBATE: STREGHTENNING COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE REGIONAL AND SUB-REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

DRAFT STATEMENT BY H.E. DR. ERASTUS MWENCHA, DEPUTY-CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION

H. E. Mr. Sam Kutesa, President of the United Nations General Assembly,
H. E. President Yoweri Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda,
H. E. Mr. Ban Ki –Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations,
H. E. Mr. Georges Rebelo Chikoti, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Angola and Chair of International Conference on Great Lakes Region (ICGLR),
H. E. Mrs. Annika Sodar, Vice Minister and State Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Sweden,
H. E. Mr. Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Bahamas;
Honorable High Officials and Representatives of Regional and Sub regional Organizations,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The African Union is grateful to you Mr. President for organizing this timely and important high level debate on the important subject of strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and Regional and Sub-Regional Organizations. This debate is both timely and vital.
Timely because as rightly indicated by those that have spoken, the world has changed and equally so the theatre in which Pearce Operations takes place. This debate is also taking place on the threshold of milestone developments both at the African Union and the United Nations. The Reviews of UN Peacekeeping Operations and the UN Peace Building Commission, the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations, the preparation of the July 2015 Addis Ababa Conference on Financing for Development and the Humanitarian Summit to take place in Turkey in 2016, the development of a post 2015 development agenda and, the adoption of the African Union agenda 2063.
Africa has also adopted and submitted a Common position on Peace Operations based on: (1) lessons learned from close collaboration with the UN on the entire spectrum from Mediation to post conflict political transitions, peace keeping and peace building; and (2) approximately 70% of Special Political Missions and Peace Keeping Operations of the UN are deployed in Africa and has become the largest regional contributor of UN peace operations and now contributes approximately 45% of the UN’s uniformed peacekeepers.
The conflict dynamics facing UN and African peace operations have become more complex and asymmetrical since the Brahimi Report fifteen years ago. In many contemporary conflict zones, terrorists, criminal gangs, traffickers and armed groups or militias deliberately choose to use violence targeted against civilian populations, aid workers and, increasingly peacekeepers, to achieve their aims. Conflicts are also more regional in character and therefore require a more regional approach with the challenge of balancing the interests of the various States affected by the conflict.
While conflicts typically emerge in response to local conditions they are increasingly linked to international ideological trends. Here, I wish to mention as an example the ever-increasing trend of violent extremism which encompasses a generalized ideology less amenable to negotiated solutions, while at the same time providing networks for the trafficking of arms, money, fighters and tactics from one conflict zone to another.
Mr. President this debate is vital because, in these contexts, effectively managing such conflicts requires robust peace operation capabilities and, increasingly, offensive fighting capacity. While a decade ago, most UN peacekeeping operations were deployed after the negotiation of a peace agreement, today, by contrast, most UN peacekeeping missions are deployed amidst on-going conflict in countries where there is “no peace to keep” and where it is difficult to distinguish between armed groups and the local civilian population marking a significant shift in UN peacekeeping doctrine.

Mr. President,
The African Union, like the rest of the international community is forced to adapt to these changing conflict dynamics. A partnership model, even better, a division of labor is therefore emerging where the AU and/or Regional Economic Communities /Regional Mechanisms with support from the UN and other international partners, act as first responders to African crises. Close cooperation between the UN and the African Union is thus a strategic necessity. However, more efforts are needed to find creative and innovative ways to support African peace operations. Effective African peace operations represent a significant contribution to the global common good. It is in this regard that we welcome the political declaration to be adopted by this High Level meeting specifically the recognition that, in cases when regional or sub-regional organizations deploy peacekeeping operations authorized by the Security Council, they contribute towards maintenance of international peace and security consistent with the provisions of Chapter VIII of the UN charter and the need to enhance the predictability, sustainability and flexibility of financing regional organizations when they undertake peacekeeping under a Security Council mandate.

Mr. President,
Ten years after the establishment of the UN’s Peace Building Commission (PBC) and 9 years after the adoption of the AU’s policy on Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD), a number of challenges remain as shown by the relapse of some post conflict countries into violence. These challenges are even aggravated by the advent of new phenomenon such as radicalization and extremism, frequent droughts/floods emanating from climate change or of health nature such as the Ebola crisis in 3 of the 6 countries on the agenda of the PBC, namely in Liberia, Guinea and Serra Leone. In our opinion, the PBC should strengthen its leverage as a strategic partner to the AU and the RECs by applying a bottom up approach in engaging in peace building in Africa through close collaboration with the AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

Mr. President,
Our two Organizations have also made progress in other areas of cooperation such as humanitarian issues, marked by the signing of a memorandum of Understanding between UN/OCHA and the African Union, while agencies, Funds and Programs of the UN system have been instrumental in the materialization of the objectives of the cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations.
It is however important to underscore that While the African Union's Cooperation with the United Nations has evolved significantly in the area of peace and security, including establishment of mechanisms such as Joint Task Force, Desk to Desk and annual consultative meetings between the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council as well as existence of the Ad Working Group of the Security Council on Conflicts Resolution and Prevention in Africa, there is still considerable room for improvement in other areas of cooperation. These are indicated in the African Common Position on Peace Operations that I referred to earlier.
At this juncture, allow me to express the African Union's appreciation to the United Nations for the continued support to the African Union in the context of the Declaration on Enhancing UN-AU Cooperation Framework for the Ten Year Capacity Building Program for Africa adopted in November 2006. The expiration of the TYCB comes on the heels of the 70th anniversary celebration of the United Nations which informed the decision of the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa at its recent meeting held in Addis Ababa to elaborate a successor program to respond to new continental imperatives and strategically aligned and synchronized with Africa's aspiration for a transformative development.
These efforts have found expression in the Framework for a Renewed UN/AU Partnership on Africa's Integration and Development Agenda (PAIDA) 2017to2027 as a successor to the Ten Year Capacity Building. PAIDA is anchored on the AU Agenda 2063 and its Ten Year Implementation and is based on shared values and core principle of African ownership and leadership.
As African Leaders roll out PAIDA by its adoption at the forthcoming African Union Summit, it is our expectation that the United Nations through the General Assembly will accompany the African Union by giving concrete effect to the support of PAIDA through the adoption of a resolution during the 70th Session of the UNGA. The draft resolution, will among other things, seek to secure enhanced cooperation and partnership between the United Nations and the African Union in implementation of PAIDA while at the same time ensuring predictable funding given the lessons learned from the implementation of the Ten Year Capacity Building Program. We count in the system wide support of the United Nations as we embark on this new endeavor.
I thank you for your kind attention.

Statement of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma,

at the Opening of the 7th Europe Economic Congress,
Katowice, Poland 20 April 2015

 
Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Bronisław Komorowski
Honourable Jerzy Buzek
Excellencies, EU Commissioners
Excellency, Former President Kohler
Esteemed Participants
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honour to address this 7th European Economic Congress, and to thank our Polish hosts for their warm and friendly hospitality.

We are particularly pleased to address this Congress on behalf of the African Union, at a time when Poland and other countries of central Europe are looking towards Africa.

This is of course not a new relationship. Countries across the region played an important role in supporting Africa’s struggles for self-determination.

Thousands of African professionals trained in your countries, and continue to make invaluable contributions to the development of the continent.

We look towards renewed partnerships with you in a changed world, hence our participation in this Congress.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the turn of the century, Africa was undergoing a transition - politically with the end of long-standing conflicts, including the end of apartheid in Namibia and South Africa, and the spread of multi-party democracy.

Economically, we successfully campaigned against the crippling debt, and introduced reforms to improve the performance of our economies.

Thus over the last decade, Africa is the second fastest growing region in the world after Asia, with some of the fastest economies in the world.

Improvements in economic management, the development of infrastructure, and greater regional integration, have seen the emergence of a stronger African private sector.
As the youngest continent, Africa is a continent of the future, with a young population until at least the middle of this century and a growing middle class.

It still has vast and untapped natural resources, including minerals, oceanic resources, arable land, forests and water.

Thus, at the beginning of this year, the African Union adopted a fifty-year vision, Agenda 2063, as a framework to mobilise all 54 Member states, the private sector, civil society towards the common goal of creating an Africa that is integrated, prosperous, people-centered and peaceful, and that can take its rightful place in the world.

Agenda 2063 prioritises investment in people, especially health, education, and access to basic services.

More specifically, we are working towards an African skills revolution, especially in sciences, engineering, technology and mathematics.

To address our infrastructure backlogs, we look at new technologies and public private sector cooperation, to leapfrog development (transport, ICT and energy) and with regional infrastructure that link and economies.

This is especially true in the case of energy, where we are developing a mix including tradition oil, gas and coal resources, as well as renewables: geothermal, solar, wind, biomas and hydro.

African agriculture is still largely performing way below its potential, it is therefore another focus area: improving irrigation, storage and transport facilities; access to land rights, technology and capital especially for women, who are the majority in the sector; and growing agro-processing and agribusinesses.

More generally, African countries are hard at work to diversify their economies, and move beyond raw materials, building manufacturing and services, the green and blue economies and towards value-addition of their mineral resources.

Lastly, we pay special attention in all the above on the empowerment of women and young people, whom are the key drivers and innovators of our development.

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is on the basis of the above priorities that we seek partnerships with rest of the world: encouraging investments in agro-processing and agricultural technologies; in value-addition; in manufacturing; in infrastructure and in logistics.

These should be win-win partnerships, that makes money for investors as well as build African productive capacity, results in technology transfer and the development of skills.

We believe that there are synergies that we share with Poland and the region, learning from your experiences of the transition.

We therefore want to work with you on facilitating business to business contacts, starting in the specific areas that I mentioned above.

In addition, we raise with governments and the private sector our request for the urgent revival of scholarship programmes to African students, to aid the much-needed African skills revolution, especially in sciences, engineering, technology and vocational areas.

In conclusion, we are determined that the current positive trajectory of the continent will continue, as a result of the actions we take in the economic and political spheres, and the investments we make today.

We invite you as partners on this journey with us.

I thank you.

Speech of Her Excellency the Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy

Dr. Elham M.A. Ibrahim

Building a Sustainable Future for Africa

Welcome Remarks at the

Africa Climate Resilient Infrastructure Summit

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
27 - 29April, 2015

 Excelencies African Ministers
 Distinguished Representatives of African Member States
 Distinguished Representaiveand Delegates from the International, Public and Private Organizations;
 Distinguished Representatives and Delegates from Development Institutions and Development Partners;
 Distinguished Experts;
 Ladies and Gentlemen:

All Protocols Observed:
1. I greet you all on behalf of the African Union Commission and on my own behalf, at this very important event, the "Africa Climate Resilient Infrastructure Summit”.

2. First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude to all the sponsors and organisers of this important Summit, I am also happy that the focus of this Summit brings to the fore, the need to ensure climate change resilience in developing Africa's infrastructure.

3. This is more so important as Africa is currently at the stage of building its infrastructure both at the national and regional levels, which are all geared towards achieving a Sustainable Future for Africa. Africa's vision for a sustainable future involves addressing its many developmental challengesincluding poverty reduction and jobs creation, achievements of the MDGs, expansion of modern energy and healthcare services, etc. Although some gains have been recorded in many African countries in terms of these developmental challenges in the last decade, climate change poses significant threats to the continued development efforts in African countries.

4. There is an ample amount of evidence that climate change is already impacting negatively on key areas/sectors in Africa including agriculture and food security, water supply, healthcare, energy and regional security, biodiversity, etc. For example, in terms of Agriculture and Food Security, over 90% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa depends on rain-fed agriculture. Extreme weather conditions such as persistent droughts and floods are projected to compromise agricultural productivity in terms of yield potential, length of growing season and arable land resources. In terms of energy security, climate change related factors such as drying of lakes and rivers and persistent droughts will decrease water flow to hydropower dams. Coupled with the increasing depletion of biomass stock due to unsustainable consumption and climate change, the region will experience reduced energy availability that will have negative implications on development.

Distinguished Experts and Delegates:
Ladies and Gentlemen:

5. Currently, Africa stands out as the most vulnerable region to the impacts of climate change, despite accounting for less than 4% of the global GHG emissions. One of the major reasons for the high vulnerability in Africa is the low levels of infrastructure to adequately adapt to the impacts of a changing climate. The high vulnerability of the Region to the impacts of climate change is also directly linked to the developmental challenges facing the continent including weak economies and institutions, widespread poverty, limited human, financial and technical capacities, conflicts and inadequate social infrastructure.

6. To Consider in the implementation of the PIDA projects the impactof the large infrastructure projects in the climate change especially in hydropower and irrigation

7. To address the climate change problem in Africa, there is a vital need to mainstream climate change into development policies, which will provide opportunities for designing climate-resilient and low carbon development pathways for Africa.The benefits of following a low carbon and climate-resilient development in Africa include meeting our development challenges while also adapting to, and mitigating the impacts of climate change at the same time.

Distinguished Experts and Delegates:
Ladies and Gentlemen:

8. There is no doubt that increasing weather events across the world – droughts, floods, cyclones, severe storms, heat waves, etc – indicate that climate-proofing of current and future infrastructure is of utmost importance and it also provides a sustainable and cost-effective option in the long-run.

9. In Africa, vital infrastructure including power systems, roads, rail and communication, buildings, etc., are clearly vulnerable to weather events. However, the currently low levels of infrastructure on the continent provide Africa with ample opportunities to integrate the climate change dimension into its infrastructure development plans. Therefore, there is a great need to take into account climate change in designing, building and managing our infrastructure. Although climate-proofing of our infrastructures will add significant economic costs to our development goals, it provides a cost-effective opportunity in the long-run while also ensuring environmental and social benefits.

10. For Africa, ensuring a climate-proof and sustainable future will entail:
i. Integrating climate-change policies into planning and implementation processes.
ii. Repositioning current policies to stimulate adoption of climate change strategies and opportunities in our institutional frameworks, and financial and capital markets.
iii. Introduction and promotion of innovative and climate financing initiatives as well as mobilising private sector participation.
iv. Enhance technical capacity building that ensures technical innovations, and technology transfer and adoption.
v. Informed decision-making through awareness creation, and research and development.

11. This Summit provides an excellent platform for our experts, policy-makers and partners to engage in fruitful deliberations and make recommendations on the way forward in enhancing the climate resilience of Africa's infrastructure. For the African Union Commission (AUC), one of our mandates is to ensure the implementation of large regional infrastructure on the continent in several key sectors including Power, Transport and ICT sectors. We are very keen to understand and deliberate on the range of vulnerabilities we could expect on our current and future infrastructure plans, the costs implications, and also the various ways and strategies that could be deployed to address these range of vulnerabilities.

12. I also believe that this Summit is going to serve as a wake-up call for our institutions and decision-makers to consider the likely impacts of climate change on our existing and planned infrastructure in various key sectors in Africa.

13. I would like to thank everyone here for attending this important Summit, and most importantly for their continuing efforts in addressing Africa's development agenda.

I thank you all for your kind attention.