Angola joins Equatorial Guinea in contributing to Africa Solidarity Trust Fund
20 June 2013, Rome - Angola announced it will give $10 million to the new Africa Solidarity Trust Fund administered by FAO, to be invested in promoting food security in Africa.
The announcement, made by Afonso Pedro Canga, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Angola, came at the official launch of the fund at a side event during the 38th FAO Conference, the Organization's highest governing body.
In announcing the contribution, Canga congratulated FAO for this initiative and said that the donation was a demonstration of solidarity from Angola and the fulfilment of a commitment made by President Eduardo dos Santos during an official visit by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva in January.
The fund became a reality in February with a first donation of $30 million by Equatorial Guinea.
Speaking at the official launch of the fund in FAO, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea, said "Africa is a continent abounding with agricultural potential, including forests, land - 60 percent of which is not farmed - water, a young population.
"There are sufficient conditions for producing enough food for the people of Africa ... yet we are a net importer of food," he said. "We all have to do what has to be done to turn this trend around."
Cameroon, as well as civil society organizations from the Republic of Congo, have also contributed to the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva thanked Equatorial Guinea and Angola for their donations. He said they showed that African countries were ready to take on a bigger role in promoting food security not only in their own countries but in the region as a whole.
"There is greater solidarity and a clear understanding that, in a globalized world, it is not possible to achieve food security in only one country. I believe that we can all sense a growing political commitment to eradicate hunger, and the desire to transform this commitment into concrete action," he said.
The Director-General stressed that FAO's role was to support national and regional efforts in the fight against hunger. This was the spirit, he added, that led FAO to join forces with the African Union, the Lula Institute and other partners to organize a high-level meeting on food security in Addis Ababa on 30 June and 1 July, calling on all to participate.
Fund background
The idea of the fund was launched during FAO's 2012 Regional Conference for Africa held in the Republic of Congo, when the host, President Denis Sassou Nguesso, called for greater solidarity between African nations to fight hunger.
Administered by FAO, the fund will support Africa-led, Africa-owned initiatives in the framework of the African Union's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) to boost agricultural productivity and food security in the region.
