Opening remarks : Consultation workshop on comparative rice competitiveness Asia-Africa

More than 55 participants, mainly from Africa and Asia, attended a “Consultation workshop on comparative rice competitiveness: lessons learnt on successful development of rice value chains in Asia for West Africa”, 29 Jan – 1 Feb 2018, AfricaRice, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The workshop was jointly organized by AfricaRice, the World Bank and CORAF/WECARD.

The main objective of the workshop was to improve the suitability and relevance of guiding principles drawn from a World Bank-commissioned study of Asian countries for the development of effective and efficient rice value chains in West Africa.

Participants included key stakeholders active in rice value chains, representatives from governments of selected countries, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, development partners, the donor community, financial institutions and research organizations.

Opening remarks -- speakers in the podcast  (in order of intervention) :

• Dr Harold Roy-Macauley, AfricaRice Director General (00:00-10:15)
• Goodwill message from CORAF/WECARD Executive Director Dr Abdou Tenkouano (delivered by Dr Ousmane Ndoye, CORAF/WECARD Program Manager) (10:16-15:32)
• Dr Martin Fregene, Director, Agriculture and Agribusiness, African Development Bank (15:33-21:49)
• Dr Malu Muia Ndavi, Lead Technical Specialist,  International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) (21:50-25:11)
• Dr Hiroshi Hiraoka, Senior Advisor, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) (25:12-28:21)
• Dr Fadel Ndiame, Regional Head - West Africa, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) (28:22-30:38)
• Dr Peter Anaadumba, Program Officer for South-South Cooperation at the Africa Regional Office, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (30:39-32:40)
• Dr Yacouba Dembélé, Director General of Office National de Développement de la Riziculture (ONDR) (32:41-41:48)
• Dr Abdoulaye Touré, Lead Economist, World Bank Agriculture Global Practice(41:49-49:40)