Ambassador of Switzerland visits CFC Secretariat
H.E. Mr. Heinz Walker-Nederkoorn, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Netherlands, is seen with Managing Director Ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal at the Secretariat of the CFC. Ambassdor Walker-Nederkoorn came to visit CFC, for the first time, to know more about the activities of the CFC and its impact on the ground.
Ambassador Walker-Nederkoorn was accompanied by Ms. Chantal Bauhofer, Academic Associate, Multilateral Affairs, at the Embassy. Ambassador Belal was accompanied by Mr. Andrey Kuleshov, Chief of Strategy and Development, (virtually) and Mr. Chris Rallis, Financial Analyst.
Following an introductory presentation on CFC, Ambassador Belal welcomed Ambassador Walker-Nederkoorn and shared the basics of the CFC’s structure and working process. In particular, it was pointed out that the CFC re-invented itself after its reorganization in 2014. Originally envisaged as a financing agent for commodity buffer stocks, CFC is now an impact investment facility for (agri)commodity businesses in commodity dependent developing countries.
Highlighting widespread poverty in Africa and parts of Asia, CFC MD acknowledged the generous contribution of Switzerland towards alleviation of poverty. Showcasing how poverty is wrapped around commodities and its value chains to the disadvantage of smallholders and SMEs (small and medium enterprises), Ambassador Belal urged Switzerland to consider heightened focus and resource allocation for alleviation of poverty as commodity remains a major strategic focus for both Switzerland and CFC.
Ambassador Belal also shared with Ambassador Walker-Nederkoorn stories from CFC’s projects where new innovations have been incorporated to bring higher productivity. Ambassador Belal also elaborated on how a project led by a woman entrepreneur in Africa has been able to provide much-needed nutrition for children while showcasing the benefits of women empowerment at the grassroot. The realization of nutrition security is perhaps a stark lesson of this pandemic that we all have been sadly going through. They also discussed other innovations that the CFC is either implementing or contemplating to implement in the near future. Highlighting the ongoing challenges following the enduing pandemic, war in Ukraine and challenges of climate change, Ambassador Belal shared the realities of developing world who suffers most of the vulnerabilities.
During the discussion, Ambassador Belal further informed Ambassador Walker-Nederkoorn on the ongoing initiative on the formulation of a fund titled CIIF (Commodity Impact Investment Facility), which will be enabling CFC to contribute more for alleviation of poverty. Once formed, CIIF could also be an avenue for Switzerland to join this impact investment fund as an anchor investor. Similar innovations like Development Impact Bond (DIB) were also elaborated during the session and highlighted how CFC implemented DIB in the recent past as well as its ongoing consultations with other sustainability entities to resume its implementation in Latin America.
Ambassador Belal assured to pursue more innovative outreaches in the days to come to make the services of CFC available to as many people as possible in the commodity-dependent developing world, with a heightened sense of innovations and creativity.
Ambassador Walker-Nederkoorn highlighted how his country is contributing towards sustainability and concurred with the CFC that this is the time to expedite and expand the sustainability landscape as COVID-19 and war in Ukraine reversed the decades of development gains. With commodities being a matter of strategic focus, Switzerland sees mutuality of purpose in the CFC and wishes to see CFC continue its good work in the times ahead.