Session 7 of the CICC of Conakry (2025)

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Terms of Reference for the 7th Council of Ministers of the CICC

  • Location : Conakry, Republic of Guinea
  • Hotel: Riviera Royal Hotel in Conakry
  • Period : April 24-26, 2025
  • Facilitator : Mr Malamine Sanogo, Consultant at CICC

1. Context

The Consultative International Cashew Council (CICC) is an intergovernmental organization promoting cashew value chains, established in November 2016 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The organization’s goal is to provide a framework for consultation and promote the development of the cashew sector within its member states through policy coordination and cooperation between states. Currently, eleven countries are members of the CICC: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo. It has international legal capacity and financial autonomy. The ICCC is open to all producing, processing, importing, and consuming countries.

The CICC is made up of two permanent bodies and three non-permanent technical bodies. The permanent bodies are the Council of Ministers (CM) and the Executive Secretariat (ES). The CM is made up of the Ministers responsible for agriculture and trade/industry of the member states. It represents the highest decision-making body. The ES acts as the operational body for implementing the institution’s vision, strategy, action plans and activities. As such, it has three technical directorates and one administrative directorate, namely: a) Economic Studies and Statistics (ESS), b) Research and Industrial Development (R&ID), c) Cooperation, Organization and Strategic Partnerships (COSP) and d) Administration and Finance (AF). The three non-permanent bodies support and guide the decisions of the CICC. These are: a) the Scientific Conference (SC) which is an independent and impartial platform for scientific exchanges bringing together researchers and research institutes and universities from member countries, b) the College of Agricultural Production (CAP) which is the forum for discussion and formulation of policies relating to agricultural production bringing together producers and producer organizations from member countries and c) the Commission for the Promotion of Processing (CPP) which is the body for exchanges between private sector actors and organizations serving as a platform for exchanges on issues of processing cashew and its derived products, as well as the promotion of local consumption.

2. CICC Mission

The vision of the CICC is to serve the community of member countries through promotion, advocacy, knowledge sharing, innovation, partnership and providing platforms for discussion on issues of global importance in cashew value chains. The CICC is based on five (05) pillars of intervention to support member states in their decision-making. These are:

  • To build an influential and dynamic organization for advocacy and lobbying for sustainable change in the cashew sector;
  • Promote cooperation and consultation between Member States, stakeholders and partners for structuring investments in the sector, synergy of actions and industrial development of cashew;
  • Coordinate and initiate policies and strategies for the sustainable promotion of the cashew sector with greater added value in producing countries;
  • Produce and disseminate strategic decision-making data and information for Member States;
  • Strengthen the capacities of public and private actors in Member States by mobilizing technical and financial partners and coordinating their interventions.

3. Objectives of the 7th Council of Ministers of the CICC

These are mainly:

  • Update country data and expectations;
  • Take stock of the market and policies in the cashew sector;
  • Approve the implementation report of the Resolutions of the 6th Council and the activities for 2024;
  • Take stock of the ratification of the CICC Convention by countries;
  • Reflect on the strategy for controlling cross-border cashew nut flows;
  • Continue to explore cashew exchange opportunities;
  • Review the action plans and recommendations of the CICC Technical Commissions;
  • Take measures for the recovery of arrears and statutory contributions from countries;
  • Approve the CICC 2025 operating budget;
  • Evaluate applications for new membership.

4. Expected results

The expected results of this 7th Council are as follows:

  • The profile of the cashew sector and country expectations are documented;
  • The state of the market and policies in the cashew sector is known and taken into account in the Council’s decisions;
  • The legal process of formalizing the ratification of the CICC Convention by countries has been completed;
  • Measures are being taken for the concerted management of cross-border cashew nut flows between countries.
  • Information on the cashew exchange opportunity is updated;
  • The action plans and recommendations of the Technical Commissions are approved;
  • Measures are being taken to recover arrears and statutory contributions from countries;
  • The CICC’s 2024 activity report is validated;
  • The budgeted work plan for the year 2025 approved;
  • The membership of new members of the CICC approved and the constitutive convention signed by the adhering member countries;

5. Implementation method

The 7th Council of Ministers will be organized in three phases:

  • A meeting of country experts to evaluate the working documents proposed by the CICC Executive Secretariat and Technical Commissions. This meeting will take place on April 24 and 25, 2025. In parallel with this meeting, the CICC’s technical partners will also meet on the sidelines in the afternoon of April 24, 2025, for consultations to support the cashew sector in CICC member countries. The conclusions of these two meetings will be capitalized in a report by the experts to be submitted to the Council for adoption.
  • A meeting of Ministers of member countries on April 26, 2025, to decide on the conclusions of the Experts’ report and the reports submitted by the Executive Secretariat. The decisions of the Council of Ministers will be taken in the form of Resolutions to be implemented by the Executive Secretariat.
  • The presentation of the Resolutions and Final Communiqué of the Council of Ministers to the public at the end of the work of the 7th Council on April 26, 2025, followed by press conferences.

6. Countries and organizations concerned

It is about:

  • Member countries include: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo. In addition to participants from the Ministries of Agriculture and Trade/Industry, representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs will be present at this meeting;
  • Non-member countries invited are: Cambodia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tanzania.
  • Partner organizations: ACA, ADB, CATALYST+ CANADA, CBI, FAO, GIZ Guinea, GIZ International Services/MCF, GIZ Mozambique, GTAI, ICRAF, IDH, IFAD, ITC, MCF, MEDA, MOVE-COMCASHEW, NIRAS, NITIDEA, OACPS, PROCASHEW, REDAA, SECO, SNI, CNV, SOLIDARIDAD, TCHNOSERVE, EU, World Bank.
  • CICC Executive Secretariat Team

7. Working documents

They are made up of:

  • Update and expectations of CICC countries;
  • Market Overview and Policy in the Cashew Sector;
  • Report on the implementation of the Resolutions of the 6th Council and activities 2024;
  • Action plan and recommendations of the CICC Technical Commissions;
  • Concept note for reflection on the management of cross-border flows of raw nuts;
  • Concept note of reflections on the implementation of the process towards a cashew exchange;
  • Update matrix of the ratification process of the CICC Convention signed by States;
  • Guide to procedures for ratification of Conventions by countries;
  • Report on the status of payment of CICC statutory contributions
  • 2025 work plan;