He emphasized the importance of good land governance as well as effective land administration and sustainable land management for the African continent which spends over US$35 billion annually importing food from the West. He indicated that the German government has supported Africa’s efforts to address land corruption in its bilateral and global programs on land and has also supported transparency initiatives such as the Land Matrix and Land Portal, as well as financing Transparency International’s program on Land and Corruption in Africa. “Addressing land corruption is an important but sensitive topic and this conference has the courage to talk about it,” he added. And in this regard, Germany appreciates the huge effort that the AU is making through the African Land Policy Center and other AU institutions, to promote and implement the AU agenda on land,” he said. The conference is being attended by land experts and officials, representatives of civil society, traditional leaders, UN agencies and related organizations.

Source: Daily Observer November 26, 2019 18:33 UTC