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Listening to our traditional partners
 Owing to its twin identities, first as an Association of African countries and later as an international institute, the Africa Rice Center is unique among the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Centers.
As part of a regular consultative process with its traditional partners—the national agricultural research systems (NARS)—the Fourth Biennial Regional Meeting was held in June 2004, in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire. For the first time we had active participation not only from West Africa who are our traditional and long-standing partners, but also from Central and Eastern Africa.
The meeting was organized under the overall theme of Celebrating the International Year of Rice (IYR) in
Africa. The event-filled IYR celebration in Yamoussoukro was particularly special because it kicked off a series of major IYR celebrations in Côte d’Ivoire and in other African countries.
As a follow-up to the Center’s return plan to Bouaké/M’bé endorsed by the Board in April 2004, the participants strongly urged the Côte d’Ivoire Government to provide security to the Center to return to its headquarters, and fulfill the related Resolution taken by the Center’s Council of Ministers in its 24th Session in September 2003.
To effectively translate our new Strategic Plan, the Board approved a new programmatic
structure that will enhance the relevance and impact of the Center’s research products and services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
The Center’s core research areas will focus on the two major challenges highlighted in the Strategic Plan:
Integrated Rice Production Systems and Rice Policy and
Development. The two programs will be headed each by an Assistant Director under the overall direction of the Assistant Director General, Research and Development.
I am confident that the new structure will ensure that the quality of our science continues to meet the highest international standards and will position the Center to effectively address the emerging challenges in
SSA.
Kanayo
F. Nwanze
Director General
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