Date: 04 Dec, 2025
Location: Rabat - Kingdom of Morocco
The Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID) participated in “The Africa Investment Forum (AIF) 2025 – Market Days” with a high level delegation led by His Excellency Dr. Obaid Saif Hamad Al Zaabi, Chairman of the Board of AAAID, accompanied by Dr. Abdelilah Belatik, Counsellor/Chief Strategic Transformation and Investment. The forum was held in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco, from 26 to 28 November 2025, under the theme, “Bridging the Gap: Mobilising Private Capital to Unlock Africa’s Full Potential”.
This year’s edition of the AIF featured its flagship as a premier platform bringing together senior policymakers, global investors, and development finance leaders to address one of Africa’s most pressing challenges: mobilizing the capital required to bridge infrastructure and climate-finance gaps amid accelerating population growth and economic transformation.
During high level panel “Innovative Financing Instruments to Accelerate Sustainable Transformation in Africa,” H.E. Dr. Al Zaabi issued a compelling call for a fundamental reset in how food systems are financed across the Arab region and the African continent. He emphasized that securing a sustainable food future requires rethinking the architecture of resource mobilization and recognizing agricultural value chains as a strategic asset class with long-term economic and developmental returns.
Dr. Al Zaabi stated: “Climate change is no longer merely an environmental issue it has become a direct financial threat to national balance sheets. Food security financing must shift from traditional subsidy-driven models to sustainable, institutional investment frameworks”.
He called for expanding credit guarantees, developing sustainable financing instruments, and designing targeted mechanisms to support smallholder farmers, whom he described as “the real engine of Africa’s food system”. He further underscored the centrality of agricultural digitalization in closing data gaps, reducing information asymmetry, and strengthening investor confidence.
According to H.E. Dr. Al Zaabi, investing in agri-tech, data systems, and digital supply chain transformation can unlock significant improvements in production efficiency and the long-term resilience of food systems.
He concluded with a call for deeper strategic collaboration among international financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and the private sector: “No single institution can feed the future alone. Partnership and integration are the only pathway to sustainable food security”.
AAAID’s participation in the forum reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Arab food security, expanding strategic partnerships with Africa, and advancing innovative financing models that enhance the resilience and sustainability of regional food systems.
On the sidelines of the forum, the AAAID delegation held a series of meetings with regional and international development finance institutions to explore co-investment opportunities in food security and sustainable agriculture projects, further reinforcing the Authority’s strategic role in fostering agricultural development and securing stable food supplies across the Arab region and the African continent.
