Presidential & Public Affairs Minister deputises President Koroma at World Food Summit in Rome
The Minister of Presidential and Public Affairs, Honourable Joseph Koroma, on 17th November 2009 delivered a Statement at the Plenary Session of the World Summit on Food Security in Rome on behalf of His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
The World Summit on Food Security took place in Rome from 16 to 18 November 2009 in order to address the problems of eradicating hunger and to provide food security in the world.
He started his statement by informing the august assembly that the Summit was taking place on the eve of consultations between Sierra Leone and her development partners – traditional and new – taking place in London on 18th and 19th November 2009. This Forum, he went on, would launch the Government’s Agenda for Change, which is the second generation of Sierra Leone’s Poverty Reduction Strategy and resolutely, among other things, flags Agriculture and Food Security as the number one priority followed by Energy, Infrastructure and human development.
He further stated that in 2008, with the support of Sierra Leone’s development partners, including the FAO, Sierra Leone embarked on a Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Plan (CAADP) process that led to the formulation of a ‘National Sustainable Agricultural Development Plan (NSADP) to support the Agenda for Change.
In addition, he pointed out that the agricultural sector constitutes about 45% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and therefore the pillar of the country’s economic growth and poverty reduction efforts. One of the objectives of the NSADP is to develop agriculture as the engine of socio-economic growth and development.
In conclusion, he conveyed the Government’s plan to allocate 9.9% of the national budget to the agricultural sector in accordance with the commitment of African Heads of State and Government under the Maputo Declaration of 2003.
Members of Sierra Leone’s delegation to the World Summit on Food Security include the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Dr. Joseph Sam Sesay, Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, His Excellency Mr. Jongopie Siaka Stevens, Ms Crispina Wright, Alternate Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the FAO, Mr. Francis Sankoh, Director General, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security and Mr. James Goodwyll, Director of Europe Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
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