El Salvador considers joining CFC
H.E. Mr. Agustín Vásquez Gómez, Ambassador of the Republic of El Salvador to the Netherlands, is seen with Managing Director Ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal at the Secretariat of the CFC. H.E. Mr. Agustín Vásquez Gómez came to visit CFC to know more about the activities of the CFC and its impact on the ground. He further enquired on modalities of how the Republic of El Salvador could become a member of CFC to avail of the benefits of CFC’s impact investment.
His Excellency was accompanied by Mr. Daniel Starr Tenorio, Counsellor at the Embassy. Ambassador Belal was accompanied by Mr. Hector Besong, Portfolio and Risk Manager of CFC.
Ambassador Belal while sharing the basics of the CFC’s structure and working process, also shared insights on how innovations in agriculture, which, in his views, are in abundance in the Netherlands and in the region, could be used in the implementation of CFC’s projects. Ambassador Belal also shared with the Ambassador Vásquez Gómez stories from CFC’s projects where new innovations have been incorporated to bring higher productivity. Ambassador Belal drew attention of Ambassador Gomez on the “mission” and “vision” of CFC where priority has been given to alleviate poverty through innovative practices along the value chains and narrated examples from CFC’s successful pilots in a good number of its 101 member countries. El Salvador’s Envoy found CFC’s work totally aligning with what his government has been so successfully doing not “to leave any one behind” under the courageous leadership of President Nayib Bukele. Ambassador Gomez appreciating CFC’s, in his word, “innovative and courageous” development work, would like to recommend to his government the consideration of joining CFC at some point to continue this shared journey of sustainability.
Highlighting the growing divergence between the developing and developing world, Ambassador Belal urged EL Salvador to speak up for the growing need for finance for implementation of sustainable development goals. In the same vein, 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 take on the role of anchor investors within the ACT Fund, while simultaneously encouraging active engagement from the private sector.
Ambassador Vásquez Gómez also expressed his interest in the workings of the CFC, which, in his words, are very innovative, and would therefore explore options on how his country could be a part of this journey. Ambassador Vásquez Gómez hoped that the good work of CFC may also, in the future, extend up to his own country – El Salvador.
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 as poverty and hunger are regrettably showing a reversing trend globally.