Press Release: Fish for Africa Innovation Hub: Partners' and Investors' Forum

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Media advisory

What: Fish for Africa Innovation Hub: Partners’ and Investors’ Forum

Who: WorldFish, partners, investors and other stakeholders

Where:

Day 1: Marriot Hotel, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt 

Day 2: Abbassa, Abu-Hammad, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt 

When:

Day 1: 6:00 - 9:00 PM, Monday, 17 June 2019

Day 2: 7:30 AM - 12:30 PM Tuesday, 18 June 2019

Cairo, Egypt - Fish for Africa Innovation Hub: Partners’ and Investors’ Forum welcomes aquaculture, fisheries and value chain nutrition partners and stakeholders for a two-day forum and site visit respectively in Cairo and Abbassa, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt.

The forum aims to unveil, WorldFish’s new vision for Fish for Africa Innovation Hub​, as a meeting place for collaboration, science, research and world-class knowledge complemented by the latest innovation trends on fisheries, aquaculture and value chain nutrition. Fish for Africa Innovation Hub will leverage Africa’s rapid urbanization, technology adoption and entrepreneurship to help increase education and employment opportunities in the region, particularly for women and youth groups.

Over the past 20 years in Egypt, since the establishment of Africa Aquaculture Research and Training Center (AARTC), WorldFish has been observing and studying closely the needs and challenges faced by the fish sector in the region. The foundations of experience, learning, market demand, and future trends have helped shape and innovate what is now a re-invented concept for the center, the Fish for Africa Innovation Hub. The Fish for Africa Innovation Hub will function as a physical and virtual space, connecting science, policy and markets at all levels, engaging renowned and emerging scientists, entrepreneurs, fish producers, processors and consumers, policy-makers, community-based organizations, cooperatives and business associations, North and South of the globe, all aligned to the common goal of sustainably producing, supplying and consuming affordable, safe and nutritious fish.

“We need a Fish for Africa Innovation Hub, to help catalyse a vibrant private sector with innovative fish-based enterprises and business associations,  with new skills, new jobs, and innovative entrepreneurship opportunities,  to enable the kind of multi-disciplinary thinking and cross-sector partnerships that are critical,  to the region’s efforts to meet and sustain the goals of the Sustainable Development Agenda by 2030 and beyond.” – explains Dr. Baba Yussuf Abubakar, Chair of WorldFish’s Board of Trustees, while making his opening remarks at the forum.

The forum facilitated by WorldFish’s Director for International Partnerships and Program Delivery, Dr. David Shearer, is attended by representatives of the government, research institutions, donor agencies, private sector companies, embassies, local community organizations and others. Notable speakers include the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, H.E. Dr. Ezz El-Din Abu-Seteit, accompanied by the Vice Minister, Dr. Mona Mehrez.

Dr. Gareth Johnstone, Director General of WorldFish after uncovering the new and advanced concept for Fish for Africa Innovation Hub, closes his presentation by encouraging partners and stakeholders to reflect on the following:

The Fish for Africa Innovation Hub is an idea whose time has come to help realize the unfulfilled promise of the world’s largest growing food production sector for Africa to deliver broad-based economic growth and prosperity for the continent,  to produce affordable, accessible, safe and nutritious fish and fish foods for all within environmental limits, and ensure a sustainable blue economy future for Africa.

About WorldFish and the AARTC in Abbassa, Egypt

The Africa Aquaculture Research and Training Center (AARTC) was established by WorldFish in Abbassa in 1999. For the past two decades, WorldFish through the AARTC has continued to strengthen partnerships with public and private entities, such as Alexandria University, Skretting and the National Research Center supported by the Government of Egypt. The AARTC has played an instrumental role in shaping Egypt’s aquaculture sector by facilitating the exchange of scientific knowledge and learning, scaling aquaculture innovation and through capacity building of policy makers, extension agents, aqua-preneurs and scientists from 108 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.

End

For more details on this forum and for interview requests, please contact:

In Egypt, Mona El Azzazy – Communications Officer, WorldFish Egypt

Email: M.ElAzzazy@cgiar.org

Tel: +2- 01000776821

In Malaysia, Tana Lala-Pritchard – Director of Communications and Marketing, WorldFish HQ

Email: T.Lala-Pritchard@cgiar.org

Tel: +60 4 6286 870