Bioversity International to mark 45th anniversary
CIAT’s Alliance partner, Bioversity International, celebrates its 45th anniversary on May 20. In collaboration with the Government of Italy – the Center’s host nation – and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Bioversity will mark the day with an event in Rome that will be livestreamed here.
Hosted at FAO headquarters, the event starts at 2:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. at CIAT headquarters in Colombia, 3:30 p.m. in Nairobi, Kenya, and 7:30 p.m. in Hanoi, Vietnam). The event will run for an hour and a half and will celebrate Bioversity’s achievements in collaboration with UN agencies, national partners, and other members of the CGIAR network.
The event will also offer a glimpse of what’s ahead for the Alliance between Bioversity and CIAT, which comes into full effect in 2020.
“On behalf of the entire CIAT community, we want to congratulate Bioversity International for your celebration of 45 years,” said CIAT Director General Ruben Echeverría, adding that Bioversity has pioneered research on agrobiodiversity and conservation long before the topics became as relevant as they are today.
“Find the time and celebrate all these great achievements,” said Echeverría, who will be on a panel discussion about the Alliance during the event. “We hope that all of these great research themes are going to be reflected in the research portfolio for the Alliance and we’re looking forward to working with you for the next 45 years.”
During the event’s opening session, Juan Lucas Restrepo, Director General of Bioversity, will be officially introduced as the CEO-designate of the Alliance by Daniel Gustafson, FAO Deputy Director-General for Programmes.
The second part celebrates some of Bioversity’s landmark achievements with partners in three work areas: diets and markets, sustainable production systems, and genetic resources conservation.
The closing session looks ahead to the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT and how it will deliver research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives, in collaboration with FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Food Programme, and other international agencies and national organizations.
Bioversity International’s 45th anniversary celebration program is available here.