Addis Ababa 24 April 2015- Her Excellency Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy at the African Union Commission has today received H.E The Ambassador of the Republic of India to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia who is also the Permanent Representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
They discussed issues within the context of Africa-India Partnership as part of the South-South Cooperation for Development especially in view of the Africa-India Summit of Heads of State and Government due in October this year in New Delhi.
Of particular interest, the Commissioner and the Ambassador talked the area of African Agricultural Mechanisation within the framework of the July 2014 AU Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Africa Agriculture Growth and Transformation.
Commissioner informed the Ambassador that the Commission of the African Union had partnered with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and developed a concept for African Agriculture Mechanisation that covers the entire process from acquisition and distribution to maintenance and sustainability of agricultural equipment through among others, capacity building. She lauded the advances that India had made in manufacturing and applying agricultural technology and called for a sharing of that experience, expertise and technology and innovation.
The Ambassador expressed his country’s willingness and readiness to collaborate with Africa in the area of agricultural modernisation including agricultural mechanisation. This issue will be among those that will be deliberated upon at the forthcoming Africa-India Summit and prior to that, two technical missions from India will visit the African Union Commission to work out details to include in the Joint Declaration and Action Plan for consideration and eventual adoption by the Summit.
They also reviewed the progress in taking forward the agricultural science farms being established in different regions of Africa under the Africa-India Partnership. They also agreed to enhance collaboration between the AUC and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research headquartered in Hyderabad in India.
The Ambassador also invited Commissioner to visit the Annual Exhibition and Fair showcasing India’s agricultural mechanisation currently going on at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, to which Commissioner agreed. The Ambassador was accompanied by Mr. R.V Venkatesan, Second Secretary.

Media Contact

Mr. Molalet Tsedeke; Directorate of Information and Communication, AUC;
molalett@africa-union.org;

Ms. Carol Jilombo, Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture; AUC
jilomboc@africa-union.org

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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