EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Africa and Europe share a rich history of scientific and technological cooperation. Within the framework of the AU-EU High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation, embedded in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES), both sides agreed to work further together on common priority research and innovation areas, the first one being food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture. At the request of the EU-Africa Summit of 2014, an EU-Africa Expert Group was tasked, under the guidance of the HLPD, to draft a Roadmap towards an EU-Africa R&I Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA). This Roadmap was adopted by the HLPD Senior Officials Meeting in Addis Ababa in April 2016 and is structured around four main pillars: (i) Sustainable intensification, (ii) Agriculture and food systems for nutrition, (iii) Expansion and improvement of agricultural markets and trade and (iv) Cross-cutting issues. For the successful implementation of the Partnership, an AU-EU FNSSA Working Group was set up in March 2017, supported by the Research and Innovation Network for Europe and Africa (RINEA). The Group provides oversight of the implementation of the Roadmap, including on future activities, in order to ensure coordination between the different instruments and stakeholders.