The world stands at a critical juncture. The global population is projected to surpass 9.7 billion by 2050, demanding a 70% increase in food production. World hunger is still a major threat that remains unaccounted for. Climate change is on the rise and geopolitical tensions in the North are holding attention as unemployment rates climb and business owners immigrate for more favorable tax systems abroad.
Tightening monetary policies globally are threatening to derail global trade and the caricature continues. A never-ending list of seemingly impossible-to-solve problems continues to grow. The world demands an answer.
What will the people in power do about it?
As the International Commodity Summit 2025 approaches, so do solutions for more efficient political strategies. The Intergovernmental Summit is the most critical panel discussion at the ICS2025, amongst 37 panel discussions, between world leaders, policymakers and influential figures, that will use the discussion as a platform to affect change, release policymaking strategies and provide answers to the looming questions regarding our future as a civilization.
The Intergovernmental Summit panelists must act decisively, leveraging the collective power of nations to transform the commodity sectors as we know them. This requires a multi-faceted approach, and policies that are implemented today will only have measurable effects in 5 – 10 years from now.
Failure to address these challenges will exacerbate existing inequalities and destabilize global systems. Success, however, could usher in a new era of production, wealth creation and prosperity on a global scale.
Which agricultural system changes can we expect as a result of the discussion?
Agriculture is both a victim and a contributor to climate change. Extreme weather events, prolonged droughts, and rising temperatures are crippling food production, while the sector accounts for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The Summit must promote policies that incentivize climate-smart agriculture, meaning practices that reduce emissions, improve resilience, and sequester carbon. Global agreements on funding and technology transfer will be essential to ensure early adoption across developed and developing nations. The cause-effect dynamics simply boil down to the fact that demand drives supply. The rampant growth in the total world population places immense pressure on already strained agricultural systems.
Traditional organic farming methods are no longer sustainable and farmers are forced to use inorganic fertilizers to artificially maintain soil fertility and ramp up production volumes from one harvest season per year, to three or four. If farmers continue at the current rate for another 200 years, the possibility of total soil infertility is becoming a reality that needs to be prevented immediately.
The Summit must champion innovative solutions, such as accessible precision agriculture, vertical farming, and regenerative practices, to enhance productivity while conserving resources and maintaining soil fertility for the generations to come. Soaring food prices are another pressing matter. In 2023, the FAO Food Price Index remained at alarmingly high levels, pushing millions into food insecurity. Without intervention, this trend could trigger widespread hunger and social unrest.
The Summit must address the structural inequalities in global food distribution and release policies to drive investment into robust supply chains to stabilize markets. Immediate relief measures are critical to averting a humanitarian disaster.
The path forward in mining in construction
As the world grapples with interconnected crises, the mining and construction sectors face a myriad of challenges on their own. The pillars of the global economy need strengthening, as our primary resource supply sectors are facing serious instability.
Mining operations are depleting finite resources at an alarming rate, exacerbating environmental degradation. Meanwhile, construction consumes over half of the world’s extracted materials annually. This unsustainable trajectory jeopardizes long-term resource availability. The Intergovernmental panel discussion must prioritize sustainable practices, including circular economy models, waste reduction, and innovations in recycling materials like steel, concrete, and rare earths.
Mining and construction are among the largest contributors to carbon emissions, with mining accounting for 4-7% of global emissions and construction responsible for nearly 40%. Rising temperatures, extreme weather, and stricter environmental regulations are intensifying operational risks in these sectors and human fatalities remains the unmentionable consequence of inaction in these domains, both directly and indirectly.
Moreover, mining and construction remain among the most hazardous industries globally. The discussion must focus on upskilling the workforce, enhancing safety protocols, and ensuring a just transition for affected communities. The discussion must address the integration of renewable energy, low-carbon resources, and eco-friendly construction materials to minimize environmental footprints. Furthermore, an effective strategy to reduce emissions without disrupting blue collar communities is of the essence.
There is a fundamental vulnerability in the global critical mineral supply chain, which is supposed to power the future of renewable energy, electric vehicles, smart phones and solar panel production . The volatility in critical minerals, like lithium and cobalt, needed for clean energy technologies highlights this vulnerability.
Conflict minerals are entering the global supply chains and government intervention is becoming a basic necessity. The private mining sector needs more policies and incentives to drive investment. The discussion must address these issues as a collective. Africa is a resource rich continent. There is no lack, besides for a lack of favorable foreign direct investment policies.
Effective governmental solutions for banking, logistics and supply chains related to the commodity sectors
The commodity sectors are the oxygen of the global economy, covering industries from energy to agriculture. However, inefficiencies in banking, logistics, and supply chains threaten to destabilize these critical markets. The Intergovernmental Panel Discussion must address these challenges by fostering effective governmental solutions that amplify trade, and reduce mundane regulations that slow it down, and increase the barriers to entry for establishing new banks, logistics businesses and supply chain infrastructure.
Access to capital is vital for commodity producers, traders, and buyers. Yet, tightening monetary policies create significant barriers to financing, leaving the commodity sectors dependent on private equity, due to the lack of speed in banking institutions.
Businesses are ditching the banking sector. It’s simply ineffective to spend 6 months concluding a transaction through a bank, that could otherwise take 6 days in private equity. Banks have become a buffer instead of an enabler. Currently, there are more than 87,000 global regulations affecting the banking industry, so much so that establishing a new bank and ensuring profitability is nearly impossible. This inspires only a growing private equity sector, a smaller banking sector, and a higher volume of risk capital as opposed to regulated financiers.
The Summit must explore solutions such as returning to minimal regulations in the banking sector in order to make way for business as usual, a serious discussion around transaction speed in capital markets, a strategy to enhance trade finance, lower interest rates and a way to ride the wave of digitization through blockchain and fintech.
Logistics challenges will need to be addressed. Efficient transportation networks are the backbone of commodity logistics, yet many regions suffer from outdated infrastructure, congestion, and bottlenecks especially in railway operations. The demand for supply chain development infrastructure, port development and rail improvements is a topic that continues to demand attention. We expect this topic to resolve the critical issues in the logistics sector.
The International Commodity Summit and it’s role in policymaking
When it comes to policy making and political collaboration in the private sector, discussions are not just discussions, but rather promises of a brighter future. Governments and the private sector have been collaborating for millenia. As long as the private sector keeps nourishing governments, governments will keep providing resources and policies that sustain and improve upon society’s working systems.
Today, we target the most critical part of Africa: it’s reputation. Africa is the breadbasket of the world. Not only does Africa feed the world, but it is also the most resource rich continent amongst the rest. Africa is evolving, and becoming a continent of the future.
As we have now learned, more regulations are not the answer. A reduction in unfavorable regulations will inspire entrepreneurship, investment and a mass effort from the private sector to develop ports, railways and new commodity supply chains. Incentivization is the solution, where regulations are known to demotivate entrepreneurs. Deregulated economies are flourishing, where complex regulatory environments disincentivize investment.
The International Commodity Summit aims to create an event that enables a safe transition into a less regulated, more effective and more prosperous world economy, with an intensive focus on Africa as a continent. A slight change in foreign direct investment policies could potentially create the next big investment hub in Africa. In the last 20 years, we have seen what regulatory freedom accomplished in the Middle East. The next step is to implement the strategies that worked in the countries that need them.
To address these challenges, the International Commodity Summit must provide a platform for governments to adopt a multifaceted approach that balances economic growth with long-term resilience. Consequently, the results of the Intergovernmental Discussion should be a reduction in disabling regulations, and an increase in productivity and foreign direct investment into Africa in order to amplify the resource rich soils of this continent. To attend the discussion or buy tickets for the International Commodity Summit 2025, click here: International Commodity Summit
Hibarri as Africa’s most prominent commodity company
Hibarri, the Host Sponsor of the International Commodity Summit 2025, is a specialized commodity sales platform that enables resource producers to list and market their commodities out of Africa. Hibarri aims to promote exports, and change the way the world sees Africa through a rapid implementation of mass marketing for the continent.
The purpose of Hibarri is to exclusively target resource producers in heavily regulated environments, and to use the company’s expertise to navigate export systems on behalf of producers that don’t have access to international markets. The platform serves as a marketing, sales and logistics partner to commodity producers, making the platform their preferred trading house of choice.
Providing a physical representation of the Hibarri platform’s capabilities, the Summit promises to amplify exports out of Africa, and provide access to markets for producers from all walks of life. The goodwill of the platform extends beyond sales, marketing, events and encouraging partnerships between relevant participants in the related sectors, it goes as far as connecting continents, fostering brotherhood and providing a voice to an otherwise hidden industry, the world commodity industry.