Morocco for more investments from CFC

H.E. Mr. Mohamed Basri, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the Netherlands, visited the Secretariat of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) for the first time to learn more about the CFC's activities and its impact on the ground.

During the visit, Ambassador Basri was accompanied by Mr. Rachid Seghrouchni, Deputy Head of Mission, and Ms. Sanaa Ziati, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy, while Ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal, the Managing Director of the CFC, was accompanied by Ms. Annemarie den Tex, Legal Adviser to the Managing Director.

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 Basri expressed appreciation for the CFC's initiative in launching the ACT Fund. He assured his support and coordination with all member states. He praised the CFC's work and expressed hope for future collaboration. Ambassador Basri emphasized the importance of commodities and their impact on grassroots communities. He expressed his desire for increased CFC investments in Morocco 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 Morocco’s success in the commodity sector and proposed working together to benefit grassroots communities. 

CFC expressed its desire to do more with Morocco towards implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with the focus on agriculture. In this regard, CFC urged Morocco to be a vital conduit for the next African green revolution as they themselves are implementing their policies themed “Green Generation 2020-2030”. 

Without innovative interventions that capitalize the abundant African resources of arable land, water and seeds, Africa continues to remain a food deficit continent. Given Africa’s dismal rate of use of fertilizer and accompanying low productivity, Morocco remains a zone of hope with its significant production capacity of necessary fertilizers. As such, CFC would like to be a part of this shared journey to add to the sustainable productivity in Africa.

Ambassador Basri shared how Morocco is working on its African vision to see AfCFTA as a success for hardworking people in Africa.

Both Ambassadors expressed their commitment to advancing the cause of commodities and its positive impact on people's lives, and looked forward to future cooperation and creative solutions.

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