Welcome to Cape Town for a bold leap into the future for Africa-EU research and innovation partnerships.
It is great pleasure and indeed honour for me to write this contribution for the ERAfrica newsletter, to be published on the occasion of the signing of the Implementation Agreement for the launch of the long-awaited call for proposals, in Cape Town on 6 November 2012. South Africa was one of the first African countries to join the ERAfrica alliance of European and African partners working together to prepare a new funding instrument for research and innovation partnerships. We did so informed by our conviction that investment in science and technology is essential not only to eradicate poverty and advance sustainable development on our own continent but also to address the many shared societal challenges Africa and Europe face.
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