CFC receives the Ambassador of Sri Lanka and Vice-Chair of the CFC’s Asian and Pacific Region Group
H.E. Ms. Aruni Ranaraja, Ambassador of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the Netherlands, visited the Secretariat of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) for a status update as well as to reiterate Sri Lanka’s strong support for workings of the CFC. During the visit, Ambassador Ranaraja was accompanied by Ms. Shashireha Shanmugam, First Secretary at the Embassy.
Ambassador Belal gave an introduction to the CFC and highlighted the growing demand for CFC investments, which is outpacing the available financing resources. He emphasized the need for greater support infrastructure to meet the expectations of member countries.
Furthermore, Ambassador Belal discussed the introduction of the Agricultural Commodity Transformation (ACT) Fund, previously known as CIIF, at the LDC5 Conference in Doha. He shared the CFC's roadmap for poverty alleviation in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Land Locked Developed Countries (LLDCs), and beyond. Member countries were encouraged to join the ACT Fund as anchor investors and promote it to the private sector.
Ambassador Ranaraja expressed appreciation for the CFC's initiative in launching the ACT Fund. She assured her support and coordination with all member states. She praised the CFC's work and expressed hope for future collaboration. Ambassador Ranaraja emphasized the importance of commodities and their impact on grassroots communities. She expressed her desire for increased CFC investments in Sri Lanka and beyond to help lift more people out of poverty.
In response, Ambassador Belal assured the visiting Ambassador that the CFC would continue to pursue innovative approaches to make its services available to as many people as possible in commodity-dependent developing countries. He highlighted Sri Lanka’s success in the commodity sector and proposed working together to benefit grassroots communities.
The meeting was concluded with the expression of mutual assurances of support to do the necessary follow up in the days to come.