24-11-2017, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) yesterday inaugurated the IGAD Regional Agricultural Investment Plan (IGAD RAIP) 2016-2020 Partners Meeting in Addis Ababa. IGAD Executive Secretary, H.E. Amb (Eng) Mahboub Malim, was joined at the high table for the opening ceremony by the Director of Planning of the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Zena Habtewolde, the Coordinator of FAO Subregional Office for Eastern Africa, Dr. Patrick Kormawa, the Head of the Italian Agency for Cooperation development at the Embassy of Italy to Ethiopia, Dr. Ginevra Letizia, and the Special Advisor to NEPAD CEO on Strategy and Planning, Dr Sali Saal.
The IGAD-RAIP is a sector-wide plan for coordinating and harmonizing the activities, projects and programmes and the requisite resources needed to implement the IGAD CAADP to complement the National CAADPs or National Agricultural Investment Plans (NAIPs). The IGAD RAIP (Regional Agricultural Investment Plan) and the NAIPs are needed to enhance the agricultural sector and ensure food security and nutrition in IGAD Region.
At this conference IGAD and FAO brought in partners and potential investors to support the implementation of the IGAD-RAIP. The overall goal of the conference was to mobilize interest (and possibly investment) and financial resources towards the realization of CAADP Targets and Malabo Declaration commitments.
IGAD Executive Secretary said that IGAD-RAIP sought “to address the recurrent issues of food insecurity, reduce livelihoods vulnerabilities, increase resilience and contribute to growth and ssocio-economic development in the region”.
Through this conference, IGAD Secretariat, its specialized institutions, FAO and other strategic partners aim to enhance the region’s capacity in policy delivery by ensuring donors’ support, active private sector participation and more involvement of small-scale farmers, pastoral groups, cooperative societies, traders, NGOs, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the implementation of the sustainable agricultural agenda.
The meeting closed the following day with the issuance of the below Communiqué.
