Mogadishu, 01 – 02 October 2024
The “First International Conference on Agri-Value Chain Investment” was organized by the EU Delegation to Somalia and the Somali Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. The UNIDO Country Programme Somalia, which supported the conference, had asked ITPO Italy and ITPO Germany to organize a private sector delegation. UNIDO ITPO Germany mobilized 7 companies that provide solutions for the agricultural sector and that are headquartered in Austria, Germany, Kenya, Poland and the UK. H.E. Hassan Sheik Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Salah Ahmed Jama, Deputy Prime Minister for the Federal Government of Somalia and H.E. Asad Mohamed, Federal State Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, visited the booths of the European companies. Additionally, the delegation had numerous exchanges with Somalia’s dynamic private sector. The representatives of three companies were invited to the panels on “Building partnerships and unleashing investment opportunities for the productive sectors”. At a meeting with IFC – International Finance Corporation, the companies learned how this development institution finances private-enterprise investments in Somalia. The event helped to strengthen UNIDO’s role in Somalia towards the Somali government, the Somali private sector, the EU Delegation, and other UN agencies, and contributed to UNIDO’s goal of ending hunger in a country that had faced severe food shortages in the past.
