OCP Group, TDB and MIGA joined forces to strengthen food security in Africa

The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and Morocco’s OCP Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on enhancing food security in Africa. The MoU was signed during the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.

The agreement specifies that the three organizations will work together to identify areas suitable for the deployment of MIGA’s risk mitigation tools. Additionally, they will collaborate on trade finance transactions, particularly for the importation of strategic commodities such as fertilizers.

The collaboration aims to improve food security, generate employment, increase agricultural productivity, and enhance foreign exchange availability by facilitating the export of commercial crops.

The new MoU builds on a credit enhancement facility signed between MIGA and TDB in 2020. That agreement has so far supported transactions worth over USD 300 million in TDB member states for the importation of commodities vital for food and energy security. It also solidifies TDB’s ongoing relationship with OCP Group, through which USD 2 billion of fertilizer imports from Morocco have been facilitated into the TDB region over the last six years.

Both TDB and OCP Group have previously employed blockchain technology to execute trade finance transactions. In 2022 alone, 75% of the USD 700 million in transactions between OCP Group and TDB were conducted using blockchain, resulting in time and cost savings.

The signatories expressed their intention to expand cooperation for stable and sustainable economic growth in Africa, particularly during a period marked by global shocks and macroeconomic challenges.