Source: Loop Caribbean News
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett, is pleased with the work done by member countries to ensure the trade bloc can feed itself.
In her opening address at the second Regional Agri-Investment Forum and Expo in Trinidad and Tobago, Barnett highlighted that significant progress was made in removing hurdles that prevented growth and investment in the regional agriculture sector.
“We have moved the talk to action. The plans and targets, which we have set out for ourselves, are coming together,” she stated.
Barnett said the four “game-changing” policy actions and strategies that the region is advancing include the CARICOM Trade Policy for Animals and Animal Products, which will create a harmonised procedure for all member states and the Regional Agricultural Health and Food Safety Policy.
Additionally, Barnett said work is progressing between the Caribbean and United States, through a high-level committee, to make the entire region food secure.
“Achieving food and nutrition security and, in particular, achieving the early target of reducing food imports 25 per cent by 2025, requires us to be all on board and all hands on deck. The challenging global economic conditions have given us the clearest indication that in order to survive as a Region, we must pull together in the spirit of the shared vision that created the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.”
She thanked the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for helping CARICOM states to achieve their important goal.
Barnett urged regional leaders not to lose focus as they combat the issue.
She reminded leaders that the April 2022 CARICOM/World Food Programme report on livelihoods “concluded that the incidence of food insecurity is rising and is having a devastating effect on the people of the region.”
The Regional Agri-Investment Forum and Expo continue at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain until Sunday.