Rabat – OCP Africa, a subsidiary of the Moroccan OCP Group, and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) are keen to join forces to strengthen the development of the African continent.
OCP Africa CEO Mohamed Anouar Jamali has welcomed the CEO of ITFC Hani Salem Sonbol and ITFC Acting CEO at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), with the aim of developing a “roadmap for a new partnership,” said OCP Africa in a statement.
“The current context requires us, as development partners, to combine our efforts and act together to maximize the impact of our initiatives in Africa,” added the statement.
The meeting comes around a week after OCP Africa’s Senior President for West Africa, Mohamed Hettiti, urged international partners to “join hands” to achieve sustainable development in Africa, as well as address the continent’s food security and agriculture challenges.
Several communities across Africa are suffering from acute food security, the worst in decades. This has pushed the Moroccan fertilizer giant to launch various initiatives to strengthen food security and address the challenges that African agriculture is facing.
For instance, OCP Africa’s Fertilizer Relief Program offered African farmers more than 500,000 tonnes of phosphate-based fertilizer either for free or at a largely cut price.
In addition, OCP Group announced earlier this month its partnership with Microsoft, which aims to address Africa’s agriculture challenges using technological solutions.
The two companies will work together to scale up OCP Africa’s digital agriculture platform to improve farmers’ productivity and help them manage their businesses.
Headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation is a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
It was established with the aim of advancing trade among the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), “which would ultimately contribute to the overarching goal of improving the socio-economic conditions of the people across the world,” according to ITFC’s website.
ITFC’s initiatives include the Arab Africa Trade Bridges Program (AATB), which aims to “promote and increase trade and investment flows between African and Arab member countries.”
The program seeks to address the economic context of each target country, the company’s website further indicated, saying that AATB will particularly focus on the agriculture, manufacturing, and health & pharmaceutical industries.
“The AATB Program is geared towards increasing economic integration and support[ing] sustainable growth across Arab and African countries,” the company concluded.