September 2016 Newsletter

From 17 and 18 August, 2016, the Managing Director of ACA, Dr. Babafemi Oyewole and the Chief Finance Officer, Mr. Akwasi Adom-Dankwa participated at a technical meeting of

the ECOWAS held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The initiative is part of the implementation strategy of the Industrial Policy of ECOWAS Common Industrial Policy which was presented at the meeting of Ministers of Industry and Quality that took place in Accra in April, 2015. The objective of the technical meeting was to bring together cashew experts to find regional synergies that can help accelerate the industrialisation of the cashew sector in West Africa. A total of 14 countries were represented. Also represented were the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency, AFD. Babafemi made a presentation to the meeting on the activities of the ACA in promoting a globally competitive African cashew industry from farmer to the consumer by outlining the various capacity building and cashew industry focused technical assistance services that are being delivered to the stakeholders in the industry. At the end of the meeting, a

resolution was made calling on the government of the various countries to support institutions like the African Cashew Alliance for sustainable development and increase in value addition to cashew in West Africa. After the meeting, Babafemi discussed with Mr. Kalilou Traore, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Industry and Private Sector Promotion, on the way forward for both institutions on the implementation of the resolution taken during the meeting. They both agreed that they will build on this meeting through an MOU between ACA and the ECOWAS Commission in the spirit of public private partnership for the benefit of the cashew stakeholders in West Africa.