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Ministerial Conference on Harnessing Science and Technology to Increase Agricultural Productivity in Africa:  West African Perspectives
 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
June 21 – 23, 2004  

Thank you, Minister Diallo. It is a great pleasure to be here for the first Ministerial Conference on Harnessing Science and Technology to be held in Africa.

We are meeting in Burkina Faso because your government stepped forward and proposed to host a West African regional conference to build on the work begun in Sacramento last year. So I want to thank you and your President—President Compaoré—for the initiative and enthusiasm that brought all of us here to your country. I also want to thank your government and the people of Burkina Faso for the very warm and gracious welcome we received.

Burkina Faso is a center of African film, art, and culture. This week, it is also the center for West Africa’s aspirations for economic transformation and growth through science and technology.

On behalf of the U.S. government, I want to thank President Kufuor of Ghana, President Touré of Mali, and President Tandjá of Niger for demonstrating their personal support and commitment through their presence and participation here. It is a great honor for me to share the podium with four distinguished presidents – an event I will long remember.

I would like to recognize the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development as cosponsors of this conference, along with the Burkina Faso Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources, and Fisheries, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And I want to thank the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) chaired by President Kufuor of Ghana, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) chaired by President Tandja of Niger, and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) for their endorsement and support—and for their central role in promoting a better future for this region.

Before I proceed with my remarks, I have the pleasure of introducing a video welcome message from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman. It was her vision and leadership that launched the Sacramento ministerial conference last year. It is her continuing commitment that helps drive the U.S. role in a range of follow-up initiatives, including this regional conference. Ladies and gentlemen, Secretary Veneman…

Mr. Presidents, distinguished ministers, honored guests, the path to this conference began at the 2002 World Food Summit in Rome. There, as you know, Secretary Veneman invited countries from around the world to a first-ever ministerial conference on agricultural science and technology.

The Sacramento conference was an opportunity to focus on the needs of the developing world in addressing widespread hunger and human suffering through existing and new technologies. Ministers and other representatives from 117 countries attended, including a number of us here today.

To keep the momentum going, participants agreed to work together on follow-up activities to identify and apply technology- and policy-based solutions to real-world development problems. These follow-up activities began almost immediately and include:

In her welcoming remarks, Secretary Veneman spoke about the Norman E. Borlaug International Science and Technology Fellows Program, launched in late March. This program offers short-term scientific training and exchanges in the United States for researchers, policymakers, and university faculty from developing countries to promote the development, adoption, and transfer of agricultural and food-related technologies.

We are working in close partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) on the Borlaug program for Sub-Saharan Africa. FARA’s executive director, Dr. Monty Jones, is here with us today and is helping develop this new program. We will soon send at least three Borlaug fellows from West Africa to collaborate with mentors at Texas A&M University on research of mutual interest.

The follow-up from Sacramento continues here this morning as we begin the second regional science and technology ministerial conference, following last month’s regional conference in Costa Rica for Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

The U.S.-African relationship is growing, and the U.S. commitment to Africa’s success has never been stronger. This commitment was underscored by President Bush’s visit 11 months ago to five African countries, including Nigeria and Senegal here in West Africa.

The relationship is also underscored by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which continues to foster new trading opportunities, investment, jobs, and economic development; by the 5-year, $15-billion U.S. Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief; and by the many trade capacity building and technical assistance programs supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and USAID to bolster agricultural development, trade, health care, education, nutrition, infrastructure, and private sector development in Africa.

Eight African nations, including five here in West Africa, were among the first group of nations recently selected by the Millennium Challenge Corporation to submit proposals for the $1 billion in U.S. development assistance available this year under the new program. Agriculture should be an important component in those proposals.

Less than two weeks ago, leaders of three West African countries, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, along with Algeria, South Africa, and Uganda, met with the G-8 in the United States at the invitation of President Bush. The discussions focused on the challenges faced by Africa, including private sector-led growth, food security, HIV/AIDS, peacekeeping, and good governance.

Our conference this week supports three U.S. presidential initiatives: The Initiative to End Hunger in Africa; the Trade for African Development and Enterprise (TRADE) initiative; and the Water for the Poor Initiative.

In this growing U.S.-African relationship, we are encouraged by the commitment of many leaders here to regional cooperation on policy reform, economic growth, and increased investment in agriculture and rural development. The United States fully supports the principles and goals of the African-led New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and the African Union’s Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security – support recently reaffirmed at the G-8 meeting.

A number of African economies are showing encouraging growth, following economic and political reforms. Expanded programs to fight HIV/AIDS are being implemented throughout Africa. We are working together on trade-capacity-building efforts, because no region in the world has a greater stake in trade liberalization than Africa.

In the technology area, more research clearly needs to be directed to African staples, such as cassava, cowpeas, sweet potato, millet, and sorghum, as well as value-added foods. However, we are seeing more technologies, including new products from biotechnology, coming from research in the developing world for producers in the developing world.

Dr. Monty Jones, who I referred to earlier, was recently named as the co-winner of the World Food Prize. He is being honored for his work in developing the New Rice for Africa (NERICA), which promises higher yields and increased production for as many as 20 million small-holder farmers in West and Central Africa. We are very pleased to have Dr. Jones as one of the moderators at this conference.

Over the next three days, we will hear presentations by leaders and experts from government, private industry, universities, research centers, and nongovernmental organizations.

Workshops will focus on four themes of critical importance in this region: Water management and conservation; biotechnology and biosafety; regulatory policies and frameworks that will support efforts to increase agricultural productivity and technology transfer in West Africa; and public-private partnerships to enhance the production, processing, and marketing of African crops.

We will hear about the successes and the challenges of increasing productivity, reducing hunger and malnutrition, and promoting sustainable economic growth to lift people from poverty to healthier, more productive, and better lives.

Throughout history, men and women have used technology to improve their lives. The challenges here in Africa are great, but we know that the people of Africa can meet great challenges.

I am told of an African proverb that goes: "Knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested." By cultivating and applying our knowledge and by working together, we believe that the power of technology can be harvested to unleash the productive and economic potential here in Africa.

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