Common Fund for Commodities gears up to meet challenges of the 21st century
The Annual meeting of the Governing Council was held in The Hague, from 11 to 12 December 2012. Mr. Sirajuddin Hamid Yousif, Ambassador of Sudan, opened the 24th Meeting of the Governing Council in his capacity as the Chairperson. H.R.H. Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme of The Netherlands delivered a welcome address, on behalf of the host country.
The Annual Meeting of the Governing Council of the Common Fund for Commodities approved new directions for the CFC to meet the new and challenges of the 21st century and to ensure resources are used efficiently and effectively for commodity development projects in 2013 and beyond.
The new vision of the CFC emphasizes sustainable development as well as social and economic growth, access to food and international and regional markets for Developing Countries driven by transparent and sustainable value addition to commodities and development of related value chains.
The CFC will engage more directly in project design, emphasizing impact, dissemination, replication and scaling as the guiding principle in selection of projects. The estimated total cost of projects for the period 2013-2017 is USD107 million of which CFCs contribution is expected to be USD 53.5 million. The CFC financial support will be in form of grants, returnable grants, loans, equity, quasi-equity, line of credit and guarantees with CFC as a major or equal partner.
The Governing Council further opened the process of reviewing the Agreement Establishing the Common Fund for Commodities to attune the organisation to the new opportunities in commodity development. A transition process of three years has been agreed up to and including 2015 for the purpose.
To enable effective implementation of new vision during the transitional period, the Governing Council suspended selected provisions of the Agreement Establishing the Common Fund for Commodities up to and including 2015. The suspension would allow the CFC to act with greater flexibility in the identification and financing of projects across the commodity spectrum while maintaining its identity and specialist approach.
The open call for proposals issued by the CFC earlier in anticipation of the new vision brought in over 250 project proposals. With the approval of the new financing plan these proposals can compete for CFC funding and put the new vision of the organization into practice.