The meeting, which will be held in hybrid mode from 28 November to 1 December 2023, is themed: “Accelerating investments for the transformation of agri-food systems in West Africa and the Sahel.”
The FAO Subregional Office for West Africa (SFW) is holding its 15th annual Multidisciplinary Team Meeting (MDT15) with the Gambian government.
The event will be chaired by Gambia’s agriculture minister Dr. Demba Sabally.
This important meeting will be attended by an Ivorian delegation led by Attaher Maiga, FAO representative in Cote d’Ivoire, as well as the financial and technical partners accompanying the organisation.
The 15th annual meeting of the multidisciplinary team will focus on FAO’s institutional and regional initiatives, with particular emphasis on sub-regional priorities and flagship food security programs.
The main objective is to discuss how to foster effective partnerships between FAO and stakeholders in the sub-region for the sustainable and efficient implementation of programs that ensure better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no-one behind.
The event will provide a platform for FAO’s SFW units, member states, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), specialised institutions and other key stakeholders from the public and private sectors to jointly review achievements and challenges, while developing approaches to build on successes and address constraints.
Interactive discussions, exchange of information and knowledge on relevant development and partnership issues related to FAO’s work in West Africa and the Sahel, at both national and supranational levels, form the basis of this sub-regional meeting.
According to official data, the number of vulnerable people in the West African sub-region is estimated to be at least 7 million.
FAO member states, stakeholders and partners will explore the most appropriate options and solutions to jointly address the challenges posed by the urgent need to transform agri-food systems.
They will also identify investment opportunities and innovative financing mechanisms, while raising awareness of technology and innovation and their role in building resilient agri-food systems in the West African sub-region.
The meeting will address the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s strategic focus on accelerating change in the transformation of agri-food systems in West Africa and the Sahel.
AP/lb/as/APA