ERA-ARD kick-off meeting

The ERA-ARD II project was officially kicked-off with Consortium and Steering Committee meetings on 11-12 November 2010 in The Hague, The Netherlands. During this kick-off, project partners were able to network, interact with their European counterparts, Work Package leaders and others.

The Dutch coordination team hosted this meeting, which was dedicated to ensuring that detailed work plans were agreed towards full delivery of the ERA-ARD goals. Due attention was given to the general management of this ERA-Net in the context of national and European research policies for global food security.

Achievements of ERA ARD I are:

• ERA-ARD provided a shared vision and a strategic agenda on ARD in Europe
• ERA-ARD provided an analysis of collaboration models to the implementation of joint and transnational activities ;
• ERA-ARD realised increased involvement of Southern partners through the establishment of a Southern Advisory Group ERA-ARD implemented a transnational call on “Bioenergy”.

The areas for improvement are:

• Enlargement of the consortium by integrating new Countries (Portugal, Turkey, Finland, etc.).
• Expand joint and transnational activities initiated during ERA-ARD I
• Realise joint activities in the Thematic fields: Capacity development, Agri-Food Chain Security and Food & Energy , also related to climate change
• Involve the end users of the European ARD programmes in the design and implementation of joint and transnational activities
• Expend the Southern Advisory Group to include stakeholders from all continents

Members of the ERA-ARD II consortium are:

- Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality – Department of Knowledge, Netherlands
- Bundesministerium für Land- u Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt u Wasserwirtschaft – Division on International Cooperation for Food and Development, Austria
- Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food, Germany
- Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, France
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France
- Instituto nacional de investigación y tecnología agraria y alimentaria, Spain
- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affair, General Directorate of Agricultural Research, Turkey
- Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
- Instituto Nacional de Recursos Biológicos, I.P., Portugal
- Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry - Department of General Affairs, Finland
- Lietuvos Respublikos Zemės Ukio Ministerija – Rural Development Department. Lithuania
- Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Belgium – DGDC, Belgium
- Istituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare, Italy
- Földmüvelésügyi és Vidékfejlesztési Minisztérium - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – Dpt for Natural Resources, Hungary
- Federal department of Foreign Affairs/Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – Department for Global Cooperation, Global Programme Food Security, Switzerland
- Department for International Development – Central Research Department, UK
- Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Department for Technical Advisory Services, Denmark