(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) With the acknowledgement of the need for sustained food security, combined with mixed results from attempts at export diversification to boost agricultural development, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has embarked on a programme to enhance the framework for the development of Agribusiness in the Region.
To this end, a two-day Consultation will be held in Georgetown, Guyana on 27-28 May 2009 to facilitate dialogue between buyers and sellers of agricultural products, and to take stock of ongoing and planned programmes supported by relevant agencies to assess their significance to stakeholders.
Another objective of this Public-Private Sector Consultation is the identification of potential synergies and collaboration in the design and/or implementation of the programmes of the agencies.
While this is not the first initiative to promote agribusiness in the Region, organisers of the Consultation are of the view that limited scale, resources and coordination among entities have hindered previous efforts. Further they believe that agribusiness development in the Region could be more efficient and comprehensive with a more systematic approach.
Participation in the Consultation will come from a wide cross-section of agriculture sector representatives including policy-makers, large and small medium enterprises (SMEs), agriculture development agencies and organisations and international development partners.
A Buyer-Seller Dialogue will be held on Day One of the Consultation. The Dialogue will see participation from representatives of large and small medium enterprises (SMEs) food and beverage manufacturing industries, the hotel/cruise ship and restaurant industries, retail industries. An update of existing databases of buyers and potential suppliers, identification and agreement of specific activities on which two or more institutions will collaborate in the implementation of their individual programmes are other aims of the Dialogue.
Also on Day One, there will be a lunch presentation on the impact of the EPA on the agriculture sector and the implications for agribusiness.
The theme of Day Two is Aligning Policies and Support Programmes with Identified Challenges and Opportunities. The participants will consider shaping the agriculture debate on policy and strategic issues, case studies of lessons learned and good practices. There will be working group sessions as well as a lunch presentation on Harmonising Agriculture Policy within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The results of the Consultation will further guide the studies that are to be conducted under the European Union-CARICOM Agribusiness programme
