Country Statements and Ministerial Communique from the Ministerial Policy Dialogue Round Table held during the 19th RUFORUM Annual General Meeting in Ghana

Kampala 21, January 2020 As part of the 15^th Annual General Meeting activities held in December 2019 at the University of Cape Coast Ghana, the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) organised a Joint Meeting of Ministers responsible for Agriculture, Education & Training, Science, Technology and Innovation on 5^th December 2019 and Development Partners. This Ministerial Policy Dialogue Round Table focused on promoting Africa wide cooperation in the Field of Agriculture, Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.

The Dialogue was a follow up to the previous Ministerial meetings held in October 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa and in October 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya. These meetings agreed on key action points and tasked RUFORUM to consult with Member States and other Actors  to  develop  Regional/  Continental  initiatives  to  strengthen  Higher  Agricultural Education,  Science,  Technology  and  Innovation  in  African  universities,  so  that  the universities are better placed to contribute to meeting development needs of the Member States and attainment of Agenda 2063.

In the same vein, the Committee of Ten Heads of State Summit (C10) of November 2018 in Lilongwe, Malawi tasked RUFORUM to engage African universities to respond to key development challenges and strategies aimed at accelerating  attainment of  the  aspirations  outlined  in  key  continental  frameworks especially  the  Comprehensive  Africa  Agricultural  Development  Programme  (CAADP), Science,  Technology  and  Innovation  Strategy  for  Africa  (STISA)  and  the  Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA), amongst others.

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) presents to you the Country Statements and Ministerial Communique as outcomes of the Ministerial Policy Dialogue Round Table dialogue which deliberated on the participation  of  Member  States  in five continental  initiatives  that  were developed  by RUFORUM  Secretariat  based  on  the recommendations  of the  Ministerial  meetings  of October 2016 held in Cape Town, South Africa, October 2018 held in Nairobi, Kenya, and tasks assigned to RUFORUM by the Committee of Ten Heads of State Summit (C10) of 2-3 November 2018 in Lilongwe, Malawi. The RUFORUM Secretariat will reach out to the Member States and Development Partners to follow up on the key recommendations of the Ghana deliberations and C10 tasks assigned to RUFORUM.

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