 Canada took a leading role in supporting the NEPAD and the G8 Africa Action Plan with our creation of a $500 million Canada Fund for Africa. This fund focused on the key challenges identified by NEPAD and provided an opportunity to showcase Canadian leadership in pursuit of effective development through a series of large-scale flagship initiatives. With this context in mind in May 2003, Canada announced a contribution of $30 million to establish the Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa Initiative in Kenya. BECCA is the first of four networks of centres of excellence across Africa to strengthen Africa's scientific and technological development. BECCA hub, located here in Ilri and Nairobi, in collaboration with regional nodes and national laboratory, allows eastern and central African countries to develop and apply bioscience research and expertise. According to the 2008 World Development Report, most poor people living in rural areas earn their income from agriculture. The report states that investments in agriculture are two to four times more effective in reducing poverty than investments in other sectors. In addition, Africa is at the very heart of African life. Most Africans live and work in rural areas, and despite their immense natural resources, one African and three goes to bed hungry every night. Women, who are the main producers of crops consumed by families, often lack access to credit, seeds, technical training, and other support that could help them improve production. BECCA, a partnership between CEDA, Ilri, and NEPAD, is a significant initiative focusing and strengthening the agricultural search pillars of NEPAD's comprehensive African agricultural development programme in meeting the goal of 6% annual growth in agricultural predictivity by 2015. Canada's support assists the NEPAD secretariat in the establishment and development of three other networks of excellence in northwest and southern Africa within the framework of the African Biosciences Initiative. Your Excellency, Canada is pleased to celebrate the achievements that have been made in establishing this particular centre of excellence in bioscience in agriculture. BECCA is conducting important research that will help address key agricultural issues, including those facing small-scale African farmers, the majority of whom are women. Our investment here is support of the construction of new and the renovation of existing facilities, including laboratories. With the completion of construction, the hub is now in full operation, with a number of significant research programmes underway, and is quickly gaining regional and international recognition as a world-class facility to support capacity for bioscience in Africa. Today, African scientists and university researchers do not have to leave the continent to conduct their biological research. Rather, research can now be done by Africans for Africa at this new facility. Indeed, this hub provides a focal point for the whole African scientific community to address agricultural health and environmental-related problems of the highest priority. Moreover, this hub will enable African scientists and researchers to play a major role in helping Africa meet its Millennium Development Goals by 2015, as a more productive and profitable agricultural sector is a critical component in the successful attainment of the MDGs. Through Accent C, Canada encourages the strengthening of the strong relationships that have been built amongst partners involved in the establishment of the BECCA network, including the hub, and we encourage others to build on this investment. This facility, for example, is fast becoming a magnet for a number of projects that are using moderate biotechnology to solve problems faced by small-scale farmers in Africa. For example, I gather that a large number of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation projects are already being conducted here at BECCA. Further, as a result of the hub, a new bio-innovate program, which is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency, is also being implemented at these facilities. These exciting developments emerging from Canada's investment will be one of the many success stories that highlight CEDA's work in the area of research development, which is one of the priorities of Canada's food security strategy. Your excellency, in conclusion, I'm excited to be here today to witness the official opening of the hub, not only because Canada helped fund the facilities, but because it will assist African scientists to find your solutions to key agricultural issues. It is gratifying to see the birth of a hub that will pay a cre-roll in ensuring that Africa drives her own agenda in regards to agriculture and strength in the research pillar of the Comprehensive Africa to Agricultural Development Program.