Press Release of 2 February 2012

EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs appointed DIE-Director Dirk Messner to his new “Scientific Advisory Board on EU development policy”. The Board, which will be comprised of 5 to 7 core academics, will support Commissioner Piebalgs in the effective translation of development research into concrete policy formulation and implementation. “This appointment underlines the fact, that the work of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) on the perspectives of global development is being appreciated and recognized at the European level”, stated DIE-Director Messner in Bonn.

This year the Commissioner’s Advisory Board will be concerned with the question of how to increase and sustain agricultural production and competitiveness in a way that is economically and environmentally sustainable for countries in the Horn of Africa. And secondly, the Board will focus on the “International Year of Sustainable Energy for All” which was declared by the United Nations for 2012.