Chapo

Two days before the opening of Seafood4Africa 2026, Mr. Hassan Sentissi, President of the National Federation of Seafood Processing and Valorization Industries (FENIP), delivers a clear-eyed and strategic reading of the challenges facing Africa’s fisheries sector. In this interview, he affirms the ambition of an event that has become central to food security, the blue economy, and the integration of African markets.

Interview :

What message would you like to address to African fisheries stakeholders just hours before the opening of Seafood4Africa 2026?

The message is clear and deliberately direct. Seafood4Africa 2026 is neither a space for commentary nor a forum for yet more observations. It is a platform for strategic alignment and action, designed to serve food security, resource sustainability, and value addition for seafood products across the African continent.

We are here to accelerate the transformation of the sector, secure its markets, and strengthen its competitiveness — in Africa and from Africa. Seafood4Africa is conceived as a place where African priorities are translated into concrete decisions, structuring projects, and operational partnerships.

What concretely distinguishes the 2026 edition from previous ones?

In 2026, we are clearly moving up a level. First, in terms of the event’s architecture. The forum, exhibition, and B2B platform are now fully integrated, with a clear common thread focused on value creation and the conclusion of partnerships.

Second, the content has been significantly strengthened from an operational standpoint. Fewer general speeches, more value chains, market access, feedback from experience, and concrete solutions. Aquaculture occupies a central place, as a major lever for food sovereignty, climate resilience, and value creation, alongside industrial processing, standards and certifications, logistics, and finance.

Finally, Seafood4Africa 2026 is clearly designed as a catalyst for intra-African trade, in line with the AfCFTA. The objective is to move beyond national silos and foster genuine regional integration, particularly between coastal countries and landlocked hinterland nations.

Why has Seafood4Africa become an essential meeting point for sector stakeholders?

Because it is now one of the few credible African platforms where public decision-makers, industrial players, investors, buyers, and experts come together around the same priorities.

The discussions focus on what truly matters for Africa today: food security, resource sustainability, local industrialization, responsible aquaculture, and the integration of African markets. Seafood4Africa is also an initiative led by FENIP to respond in a concrete way to the call of His Majesty King Mohammed VI to make the blue economy a driver of development, food sovereignty, and South-South cooperation.

In his message in Nice, His Majesty recalled that the blue economy is not an ecological luxury, but a strategic necessity. Seafood4Africa fully aligns with this vision.

In one sentence, what is the promise of Seafood4Africa 2026?

To give professionals a head start by turning Africa’s major challenges — food security, sustainability, aquaculture, and the AfCFTA — into concrete opportunities: structured partnerships, real market access, targeted investments, and executable projects, within a serious, selective framework that is firmly results-oriented.