Philippines Chairs Common Fund For Commodities’ Executive Board Meeting
Executive Board of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) 77th Meeting on 4 April 2024.
THE HAGUE 08 April 2024 – The Philippines, as Chairperson of the Executive Board of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), led the Board’s 77th Meeting on 4 April 2024 which approved seven project proposals benefitting enterprises in the commodity sector of various developing countries.
The meeting also approved game-changing initiatives to strengthen the CFC’s future work and partnerships, including memorandum of understandings with the United Nations Environment Programme and the Union for Ethical Biotrade, and the grant funding from the Central African Forest Initiative, which will be endorsed by the Executive Board to the CFC Governing Council during its 36th Annual Meeting in December 2024.
The Executive Board meeting, chaired by Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya, was attended by some 90 key officials of the CFC’s Member States who are based in their respective capitals and missions in The Hague, Brussels, and Geneva.
In his opening statement, Ambassador Malaya said that the “Philippines have been both a believer and actor in promoting the concept of integrated programme for commodities in order to bring fairness and equality between the commodity producing and importing countries.” He stressed that “the CFC can do more, and we like it to do more...whenever needed, and the Philippines will lend a helping hand”.
Meanwhile, CFC Managing Director Amb. Sheikh Mohammed Belal, in his opening remarks, urged the Member States to continue their concerted efforts in assisting SMEs and smallholder farmers, harnessing the potential of commodities, and “support CFC’s initiatives and measures not only to enhance the economy but also to protect the environment through sustainability.”
The CFC Executive Board is scheduled to have its 78th Meeting in October.
The Philippines played a crucial role in the establishment of the CFC. The idea was first agreed upon in Manila in February 1976 by the Group of 77 and was proposed during the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IV) in May 1976 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Philippines’ subscription of 50 million USD initiated the establishment of the mother resolution of the CFC – the so-called “Integrated Programme for Commodities.”
President Ferdinand E. Marcos was invited by the developing countries to serve as their spokesperson in UNCTAD IV, where he presented the Manila Declaration and the Programme of Action that facilitated the negotiations for an Agreement establishing the CFC. The Agreement was negotiated from 1976 to 1980 and became effective in 1989.
Composed of 101 Member States, the CFC is an autonomous intergovernmental financial institution within the framework of the United Nations that provides a range of financial and technical instruments in support of business activities contributing to sustainable development of the agri-commodity sectors in developing countries. These provide substantial impact on the livelihood of smallholder farmers and the economic prosperity of agricultural communities (https://www.common-fund.org/). END
CFC Managing Director Amb. Sheikh Mohammed Belal and Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya.
(from left to right) Information Officer Kieren Batiles, CFC’s Ms. Cathy Malabanan, Managing Director Sheikh Mohammed Belal, Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya, First Secretary and Consul Irish Kay Kalaw-Ado and CFC’s Ms. Joyce Rodriguez.
For more information, visit https://www.thehaguepe.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinTheNetherlands/.