Sri Lanka was unanimously elected as Vice-Chair to represent the Asia-Pacific Group on the Governing Council of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) for 2016. Ambassador of Sri Lanka and Alternate Governor of the Council, Adam M.J. Sadiq was proposed for the post by the Philippines and endorsed by acclamation by the Governing Council which concluded its 2 day meeting in the Hague today (9th December 2015). The Council also approved the appointment of the Second Secretary of the Mission, Wathsala Indunil Amarasinghe as Alternate Executive Director for the constituency comprising India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the CFC Executive Board for 2016-17.
Addressing the 27th Meeting of the Governing Council on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka yesterday, Ambassador Sadiq underscored the unique and important role played by the CFC in poverty alleviation in developing countries. He appreciated the support extended by the CFC to commodity dependent developing countries in their socio-economic development, through financing of commodity focused projects. In this regard, he stated “The technical and funding assistance extended by the CFC for improving the yield of crop varieties and minimizing losses through the development of disease-resistant varieties is a significant contribution that the CFC has been making towards the socio-economic development agenda of the developing world. Equally important is the role played by the CFC in the development and dissemination of small and medium scale agricultural processing technologies, which have been adapted to suit local conditions in developing countries”.
Speaking further, the Ambassador highlighted the need for governments to focus on food production to ensure food security for their citizens. “With more than a billion hungry people around the world, now facing increasingly unstable food prices due to the vagaries of market forces, the CFC can play a more effective and dynamic role in curbing speculative manipulation of prices of essential food items and commodities. As we all know, food is a basic necessity of life and the provision of food for human sustenance should be considered as a fundamental human right. Therefore, Governments across the world should accord the highest priority to food production that meets the basic requirements of their citizens, and to ensure food security, in times of natural and man - made calamities”, he said.
Referring to Sri Lanka’s engagement with the CFC, Ambassador Sadiq thanked the CFC for granting approval for the proposals submitted on behalf of two private sector companies Sri Lanka at the 60th Executive Board Meeting in Amsterdam in October this year. Asia Siyaka Commodities Plc. has been granted a credit line of USD 1.5 million, along with a grant assistance of USD 30,000/- to improve the tea supply chain in Sri Lanka. MA’s Tropical Food Processing Pvt. Ltd has received approval for a loan of USD 407,407/-, together with grant aid of USD 8140/- to develop its food processing capability.
The Agreement establishing the Common Fund for Commodities was adopted on 27 June 1980 at Geneva, by the United Nations Negotiating Conference on a Common Fund under the Integrated Programme for Commodities. The Agreement entered into force on 19 June 1989.
The CFC is headquartered in Amsterdam and currently has a membership of 103 Member States and ten institutional members including the European Union (EU), the African Union/African Economic Community (AU/AEC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and most recently, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Membership is open to all Members States of the United Nations, its specialised agencies, in addition to inter-governmental and regional economic integration organizations, which exercise competence within the purview of activities overseen by the Fund.
The CFC works closely with International Commodity Bodies (ICBs) to advance commodity sector development in member countries and policy advocacy in the international fora.
