Samer Choucair: Saudi Arabia Has the Potential to Become a Major Global Player in Financing Food Security
Investment leader Samer Choucair stated that the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)'s efforts to attract Saudi investors to its Sustainable Bond Program reflect the Kingdom's growing position as a regional hub for responsible capital. He emphasized that Saudi Arabia is well positioned to play a pivotal role in financing global food security through investment instruments that combine financial returns with measurable development impact, in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.
Choucair explained that IFAD's Sustainable Bond Program, launched in June 2022, has issued more than 12 sustainable bonds worth over $1 billion through private placements targeting pension funds, asset managers, and central banks. In 2025 alone, the program issued $340 million in sustainable bonds, driven by rising demand for blended finance solutions that combine financial performance with social and environmental impact.
He noted that IFAD's expansion into the Saudi market comes at a time when the Kingdom enjoys significant investment liquidity and has adopted a strategic focus on responsible investing and sustainability. This creates new opportunities for institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and asset managers to diversify their portfolios through sustainable fixed-income instruments with measurable development outcomes.
Choucair said, "This reflects a more mature capital allocation strategy among Saudi investors. The focus is shifting from purely financial returns toward blended finance models that combine profitability with social and environmental impact, particularly in essential sectors such as sustainable agriculture."
He added that IFAD's bonds provide investors with exposure to a diversified portfolio of development projects across more than 90 countries. Approximately 60% of financing supports smallholder agriculture and climate adaptation initiatives, allowing investors to achieve environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives while benefiting from IFAD's strong credit profile, backed by contributions from member states, including Saudi Arabia's cumulative contribution of $536 million since the fund's establishment.
**Saudi-IFAD Cooperation Supports Agricultural Development**
Choucair explained that the growing partnership between IFAD and Saudi Arabia extends beyond financial cooperation to include technical and investment collaboration, particularly in the Jazan region. There, IFAD works alongside the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and the Agricultural Development Fund to strengthen the value chains of coffee and mango production by improving productivity, expanding market access, and supporting sustainable rural development.
He noted that this model demonstrates how international investment can be directly linked to local development while encouraging the transfer of advanced technologies in irrigation, precision agriculture, and supply chain management. These efforts enhance the competitiveness of Saudi Arabia's agricultural sector and strengthen food security.
Choucair also pointed out that IFAD's global projects have shown that initiatives with strong private sector participation can increase beneficiaries' incomes by as much as 64%, highlighting the economic potential of sustainable agriculture investment amid growing climate challenges, volatile food prices, and the need for more resilient food supply chains.
He added that IFAD's interest in the Saudi market aligns with the broader expansion of Gulf capital into sustainable debt markets, as the Kingdom has made sustainability and food security central pillars of its economic strategy, making cooperation with IFAD a natural extension of its regional and domestic development initiatives.
**Investment Opportunities in Sustainable Finance**
Choucair emphasized that IFAD holds a distinct competitive advantage over many other international development institutions due to its exclusive focus on rural development and smallholder farmers. This enables it to generate measurable development impact at a time when global demand for impact investments continues to rise, despite increasing competition from green bonds and domestic sustainable investment projects.
He said, "Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has the potential to become a major player in financing global food security—not only through traditional contributions, but also through market-based instruments such as IFAD's sustainable bonds, which provide sovereign wealth funds and family offices with an effective channel to achieve global impact while maintaining high standards of governance and transparency."
Choucair added that this trend aligns with broader global economic developments, including the need to close the financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals, growing concerns over food security and climate change, and increasing allocations by central banks and institutional investors toward sustainable assets.
He also noted that Gulf countries are well positioned to benefit from this trend as regional green bond and sustainable sukuk markets continue to expand. IFAD's decision to establish its regional office in Riyadh in 2019 reflects confidence in Saudi Arabia's role as a regional development hub and creates opportunities for future joint financing initiatives across Africa and Asia.
**Risks and Challenges**
Discussing potential risks, Choucair said that investing in this asset class requires careful evaluation of execution and geopolitical risks in beneficiary countries, as well as challenges related to measuring development impact and relatively limited liquidity due to the predominance of private placements.
He stated, "Success in these investments requires a deep understanding of execution risks in rural development projects, combined with IFAD's technical expertise in building resilient agricultural value chains, which helps reduce risks and strengthen long-term returns."
He added that investment opportunities extend beyond sustainable bonds to include blended finance models that combine IFAD's expertise with Saudi capabilities in agriculture and irrigation, as well as direct investments in agricultural technology startups and the export of Saudi agricultural technologies and services to markets where IFAD operates.
Concluding his remarks, Choucair said, "The next phase will not be measured solely by the size of capital flows, but by the ability of these partnerships to create new industries, stronger companies, and a more diversified and sustainable economy that serves future generations."
He concluded that this direction strengthens Saudi Arabia's position as a source of smart and impactful capital while providing Saudi investors with an opportunity to participate in building a global investment ecosystem that balances financial returns with measurable development impact, ultimately contributing to regional and global food security and sustainability.