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CGIAR at PNoWB in Cape Town, South Africa March 15-17, 2007
The 7th Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) Annual Conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa on March 15-17, 2007. The conference, hosted by the Government and Parliament of South Africa brought together 200 parliamentarians with civil society organizations, multilateral and bilateral agencies as well as World Bank and IMF representatives. Parliamentarians had the opportunity to address questions to the World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz, the Managing Director of IMF Rodrigo De Rato, the President of the African Development Bank Donald Kaberuka, and the South African Finance Minister and Chair of the G20 Trevor Manuel during a question and answer session.
Parliamentarians debated what they could do to promote action on pressing development issues, and to help strengthen the accountability and transparency of international financial institutions. Several speakers including Mr Wolfowitz highlighted the role of agriculture as an engine of growth.
Parallel workshops focused on agriculture, responsible lending, good governance, partnerships, health, and transparent management of extractive industries.
The CGIAR together with the World Bank ARD organized the special session on agriculture. Speakers included Ms. Lulama Xingwana, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs of South Africa, Francisco Reifschneider, CGIAR director, Mark Cackler, World Bank ARD Sector Manager and Monty Jones, First Executive Secretary of FARA. The session was chaired by Billow Kerrow, MP Kenya and Chair of the PNoWB East Africa Chapter and was attended by more than 30 participants.
Francisco Reifschneider initiated the session focusing on the importance of agriculture for achieving growth, and brought attention to the fact that support for agriculture remains low as compared to total overseas development assistance. Mark Cackler presented preliminary messages from the 2008 WDR showing how agriculture can be a highly effective instrument to reduce world poverty. Monty Jones referred specifically to Africa and how new agricultural research policies are required to provide institutional and individual incentives for multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional and multi-stakeholder participatory approaches to research. Finally, giving the South African perspective, Ms Xingwana focused on the need to increase support to agriculture given its importance for fighting poverty. A lively debate followed the presentations.
The Honorable Lulama Xingwana, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, South Africa and Francisco Reifschneider, CGIAR Director.
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left to right: Mark Cackler, World Bank, Monty Jones, FARA, the Honorable Lulama Xingwana, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, South Africa and Francisco Reifschneider, CGIAR Director |
On Sunday March 18, Francisco Reifschneider attended the Regional Seminar for Southern Africa on Mobilizing Parliamentarians for NEPAD, with a special focus on agriculture organized jointly by the NEPAD Secretariat and AWEPA (European Parliamentarians for Africa) in partnership with PNoWB and the WB. His presentation focused on the key challenges agriculture is facing today, and the importance of addressing them at the global level. The seminar followed up on the Pan-African Parliament conference that took place in May 2006, to identify parliamentary action for Southern Africa around the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Framework (CAADP).
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