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17 December 2008
The partnership agreement between Finland and South Africa aimed at strengthening
the NEPAD/SANBio Network was signed on Wednesday 10th December 2008 at the
Department of Science and Technology (DST) Headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa.
According to this partnership, the government of Finland will invest a total of €3
million while South Africa through DST will contribute R9 million towards this
programme. This partnership Agreement popularly known as “BioFISA” was signed
by His Excellency the Ambassador of Finland, Mr Heiki Tuunanen and the
Honourable Minister of Science and Technology in South Africa, Minister Mosibudi
Mangena. The financial contribution from Finland will help the SADC region to
tackle challenges related to health, poverty, food security, and provision of clean
water. Short for Finnish-Southern African Partnership Programme to strengthen the
Southern Africa Network for Biosciences, “BioFISA”, will enable the Southern
Africa Network for Biosciences (SANBio) to roll-out its business plan in the SADC
region over a period of three years in five interlinked project components, namely
1. strengthening of the SANBio secretariat
2. developing a favourable operating environment
3. building capacity
4. creating the networking and enhancing its dissemination
5. identifying, developing and implementing project activities within the
network.
Some of the R & D priority projects already earmarked for implementation under this
grant include the following:
- integrating existing regional programmes on conventional and traditional
herbal medicines for the prevention and treatment of HIV infections. This
project will be coordinated by the CSIR in Pretoria.
- securing the fish biodiversity found in some of the large inland waterbodies
of Southern Africa. This project will be coordinated from the
SANBio fish node located at Bunda College of Agriculture, University of
Malawi.
- Promoting mushroom farming for poverty reduction and health benefits.
This project will be coordinated by the SANBio node hosted by the
University of Namibia at the Sam Nujoma Marine and Coastal Resources
Research Centre at Henties Bay.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador Tuunanen stressed that Biosciences was key
to economic success in the region. “You cannot do science alone in the modern
world”, he said. He emphasized that regional cooperation was key to success and that
Finland was delighted to facilitate this collaboration in SADC. He said that Finland
would therefore, “do everything on its side to ensure that Biofisa becomes a success”.
In response, Minister Mangena alluded to the good cooperation already existing
between South Africa and Finland. He expressed confidence on the success of
BioFISA would be a success, given the long history of collaboration between the two
countries. He stressed that this initiative was part of the bigger programme on
biotechnology that the Government of South Africa had embarked on both within the
country and in the sub-region. He reiterated that collaboration was key to regional
integration. “The only way to build science and technology capacity is by doing
science”, he added. He acknowledged that the support from Finland will go a long
way in helping the region develop and was thankful to the government and peoples of
Finland for their generosity.
Speaking earlier, the NEPAD Head of S & T Sector, Prof. Aggrey Ambali, said that
he was grateful that after two years of anticipation, Biofisa had finally become a
reality. He explained that Biofisa was a first example of what is called a tripod
programme activity between Finland and South Africa. The term refers to an activity
where the two governments are working collaboratively to provide support for the
third party/country, which in this case is the SANBio Network - a NEPAD initiative
involving the SADC countries. He thanked the two governments for supporting this
particular programme and other NEPAD programmes.
The SANBio Network Director, Prof. Luke Mumba and Mr Mboneni Muofhe,
General Manager for Strategic Partnerships at DST witnessed the signing ceremony.
Others present included Ms. Katriina Koisto who is the Councellor for Regional
Cooperation at the Embassy of Finland and Ms. Mabatho Ndwandwa, Deputy
Director: Strategic Partnerships in DST.
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