AEF at the Paris Peace Forum Spring Meeting

• Africa-Europe Policymaker Meeting on African Agri-food Systems.
• Date and time: 10 June from 16:00-17:45 (Moroccan time/GMT+1)
• Location: Conference Center, UM6P Benguerir Campus, Morocco

The Africa-Europe Foundation will co-host the first edition of the ATLAS (Agricultural Transitions Lab for African Solutions) Roundtable at the Paris Peace Forum Spring Meeting.

Organized in partnership with the Paris Peace Forum (PPF) and Global Perspectives Initiative (GPI)

The African continent has immense agricultural potential that needs to be unleashed to enhance food security, economic prosperity of the continent and to achieve climate goals. African agri-food systems should therefore be a priority on the international agenda.

The ATLAS Laboratory is the permanent structure for North-South dialogue and cooperation of the multi-stakeholder coalition of the Paris Peace Forum on African agricultural systems, following the call to action named “Africa Can Be a Major Agricultural Power.”

The ATLAS Laboratory’s mission will be to advocate for significant increase in investments into African agri-food systems from public, private and philanthropic sources, and to drive consensus on globally shared common agendas and investment priorities for agricultural transformation in Africa.

This inaugural session aims to bring together policymakers and experts from the African and European continents to strengthen cooperation between the North and the South and to overcome the barriers to agricultural development on the African continent.

The discussions will focus on developing a shared Euro-African vision to break away from traditional North-South divides, identifying financial, environmental, and psychological challenges that need to be overcome, as well as highlighting the needs of African countries, the role Europe can play, and the common interests that should lead to enhanced collaboration and, eventually, better coordination of agri-food and trade policies between Europe and Africa.

Chairs

• Mr. Pascal LAMY, Vice-President, Paris Peace Forum (PPF), former Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
• Dr. Ibrahim MAYAKI, Special Envoy for Food Systems, African Union (AU); Co-chair of the Africa-Europe Foundation Strategy Group on Agri-food Systems; Former CEO at African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) (remote)
• Mr. Rémy RIOUX, Director General, French Development Agency (AFD)

Participants

• Hailemariam DESSALEGN BOSHE, Former Prime Minister, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
• Ms. Elisabeth CLAVERIE de SAINT-MARTIN, CEO of the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD) (remote)
• Mr. Younes ADDOU, Vice-President, InnovX, OCP Group
• Mr. Charles KLEINERMAN, Team Leader - Capacity Development Unit, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
• Mr. Carlos Eduardo PELLEGRINO CERRI, Director of CCARBON (Center for Carbon Research in Tropical Agriculture); Professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Mr. Babafemi OYEWOLE, CEO, Pan African Farmers Organization (PAFO)
• Mr. Mohammed HETTITI, Chief Operations Officer & SVP East Africa, OCP Africa
• Ms. Amsale MENGISTU, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) (remote)
• Mr. Cheick Oumar SYLLA, Director for Northern African and the Middle East, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
• Mr. Hamadi BOGA, Vice President-Program Delivery, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
• Mr. Jackson KIMANI, Co-founder & CEO, CAP-A
• Ms. Abir LEMSEFFER, Deputy Managing Director, Azura Group; Director General, Initiative for the Adaptation of African Agriculture to Climate Change
• Ms. Joytsna PURI, Associate Vice President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• Mr. Gerald CHIRINDA, Founder & CEO, Future Africa Group
• Mr. Désiré ASSOGBAVI, Francophone Africa Director, The One Campaign
• Mr. Christian STAMMKOETTER, President Asia Middle East Africa, Danone