A signing ceremony held on the 28th of March 2012, at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), brought together the coordinators of nine research projects funded in 2011 by the African Union (AU) in the framework of EuropeAid . The African Union was represented by Ms Vera Brenda Ngosi, Human Resources Director and Professor Jean-Pierre Onvehoun Ezin,who is in charge of Human Resources, Science and Technology, while the European Union was represented by Mr. Gary Quince, Ambassador to the AU. Among the selected projects, was the AFS-4-Food project coordinated by Didier Snoeck, a CIRAD researcher, who was appointed by President Director General of CIRAD to sign the contract.