From 1st to 3rd June, in Yokohama, Japan, took place the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD V).
The TICAD.
TICAD was launched in 1993 to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners. TICAD has since evolved into a major global framework to facilitate the implementation of initiatives for promoting African development under the dual principle of African “ownership” and international “partnership”.
The objectives of TICAD are two-fold: 1) to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and their partners; and 2) to mobilize support for African-owned development initiatives. These objectives are embodied in the concept of “ownership” and “partnership”.
FAO, IFAD and WFP participation at the Conference.
Rapresentants of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural development (IFAD), Kanayo Nwanze, and the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, were speaking at the Conference.
The three agency heads said that the most effective key to reversing hunger and poverty in developing countries lay in responsible investment by governments and the private sector in sustainable agricultural and rural development, noting that in sub-Saharan Africa, GDP growth generated by agriculture had been shown to be eleven times more effective in reducing poverty than GDP growth in other sectors. They stressed that it is time to invest in the critical agents of change: small producers and their organizations, family farmers, fishers, livestock keepers, forest users, rural workers, entrepreneurs and indigenous people. (FAO media centre).
Go to the IFAD webside to read the speech of the IFAD President.