PRESS BRIEFING: NOURISH THE SOIL, FEED THE CONTINENT

Biographies

His Excellency President Olusegun Obasanjo, President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria: H. E. Olusegun Obasanjo was elected Nigeria's president in February 1999 and re-elected in 2003. Born in 1937 in the southwestern city of Abeokuta, President Obasanjo joined the military in 1958, serving in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Congo and in the army in Biafra. In the 1970s he held posts as Minister and Chief of Staff and for three years served as military leader of Nigeria (1976-79). President Obasanjo later handed power to a democratically elected president. In the 1980s, he farmed, founded the African Leadership Forum (1988), and was active in numerous international bodies. Today, President Obasanjo leads a country of 120 million, the most populous African nation.

His Excellency President Alpha Oumar Konaré, Chairman of the Commission of the African Union: Former Mali President H.E. Konaré has been Chairman of the Commission of the African Union since 2003. Born in 1946 in Kayes, Mali, he began his career as a primary school instructor (1964-1965) and moved on to become a teacher at a training school (1968-1969) and a college preparatory school (1969-1971). He served as a research fellow at the Human Sciences Institute of Mali (1974), and was head of Historical and Ethnographic Heritage at the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture (1975-1978). President Konaré was Mali's Minister of Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture (1978- 1979) and Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture (1979- 1980). He then became a research fellow at the High Training Institute in Applied Research (ISFRA) and Professor of History and Archeology at the Department of History and Geography of the École Normale Supérieure of Bamako. He was elected the president of Mali in 1992 and re-elected in 1997.

Professor Firmino G. Mucavele, Chief Executive, NEPAD Secretariat: Professor Firmino G. Mucavele has been Chief Executive of the New Parternship for Africa's Development (NEPAD) since 2005. Born on January 16, 1957 in Maputo, Mozambique, he served from 1994 to 1998 as Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry Engineering at the Eduardo Mondlane University and from 1999 to 2000 as the school's Dean of the Faculty of Economics. He is also a Special Adviser to the President of the Republic of Mozambique. In 2000, Professor Mucavele was invited by the United Nations to work with a team of experts mapping out a development program to accelerate technology transfer to developing countries. This work served as the basis for the United Nations' conference discussions of science and technology development in the Least Developed Nations. In February of 2001, Professor Mucavele was invited to integrate the Steering Committee of African Economists to develop the Millennium Africa Recovery Program (MAP). It was approved by the Heads of African States in Lusaka, Zambia in July 2001 and became the New African Initiative. On 23 October, 2001, in Abuja, Nigeria, the MAP was designated the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Dr. Amit Roy, President, CEO, IFDC: Since 1992, Dr. Amit Roy has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of the IFDC - an International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development, a public non-profit international organization that provides agriculture assistance to developing countries and economies-in-transition. Born in 1948 in Calcutta, India, Dr. Roy received a degree in Chemical Engineering from the India Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He joined IFDC in 1978 as a chemical engineer. Before his appointment as CEO, he was Director of the Fertilizer Technology Division (1989-1990) and the IFDC's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (1990-1992). Dr. Roy has published extensively and delivered invited papers and keynote addresses in several international events and meetings. Dr. Roy's present focus is to help countries in sub-Saharan Africa improve their agricultural productivity in the context of globalization and free trade.