We thank all the partners, speakers, exhibitors and participants who made the 5th African Diaspora Agrofood Forum a success. The event which was excellently moderated by Ms Yentyl Williams,Founder of the ACP Young Professionals Network and an ACP EU Trade reseacher, showed the increasing relevance of African Diasporas in policymaking and transnational economic activities and development. At this virtual event, we had about 130 participants from different countries.

In her welcoming remark Dr Maureen Duru the founder of the Food Bridge vzw, reiterated that there is  a role for African Diasporas in the development of Africa, thus there has to be  a realignment of strategies to support the growth of African Diaspora agrofood entrepreneurship. Furthermore she also stated the need to explore new ways of linking the remittances of African Diasporas and entrepreneurship for the sustainable  development of communities and people in Africa.

Some of the Speakers were Mr Oliveira Gomez, Assistant Secretary General Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, Mr Jeremy Knops DG Coleacp, Mr Raschad Alkhafaji Director FAO, Mr Maxy Ogbede Minister and head of chancery Nigerian Embassy Belgium, Ms Carine Nsodou Director Adept, Ms Elke Briers of King Baudouin Foundation, African Diaspora entrepreneurs and other experts. A full report will be published soon. Here are the links for the full recording - 

https://lnkd.in/d2jW6Wh9

https://lnkd.in/dwnwsBbM

The first day of the 5^th African Diaspora Agrofood Forum was a success and we look forward to welcoming you to the Meise Botanic Garden for the agrofood exhibition on the final day of the forum.

Speakers at  the first day of the forum,  reiterated the relevance of African Diasporas in the development of Africa and the need to include them in policy making. Speakers from OACP, COLEACP, FAO, Nigerian embassy, ADEPT, King Baudouin Foundation and Anteja shared information about their engagement with the diaspora and  different resources that are accessible to African Diaspora Agrofood Entrepreneurs.

The distinguished speakers at the forum included Mr Escipión J. Oliveira Gómez, Assistant Secretary General, Organization of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States( OACPS), Mr Jeremy Knops, General Delegate COLEACP, Mr Raschad AlKhafaji, Director, FAO Liaison Office with the European Union and Belgium, Mr Maxy Ogbede, minister and Head of Chancery Nigerian Embassy Belgium, Carine Nsoudou, Director, Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform (ADEPT), African entrepreneurs and experts in entrepreneurship.

We look forward to welcoming you to the second day of African agrofood exhibition at the Meise Botanic Garden Belgium. We have stands set up among tropical plants in the plant palace of the beautiful garden.

We look forward to welcoming you. We will share a more detailed report about the forum later.