Prime Minister Mia Mottley will join her regional counterparts in Trinidad and Tobago to participate in the second Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Agri-Investment Forum and Expo which will be held this weekend.
The forum is a follow-up to the inaugural initiative held in May and is part of the efforts to boost intra-regional food production and trade while reducing CARICOM’s multi-billion US-dollar food import bill.
The regional leaders will be assessing the progress made since they participated in that first forum and expo in Guyana.
At that meeting, CARICOM heads agreed on a strategy that would entail streamlining procedures for exports and imports – a time-bound commitment to the removal of barriers, developing a pre-clearance system to export goods to reduce bureaucracy and spoilage, standardisation of certification process, and technical support in developing business proposals for farmers, among other things.
Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali, who has lead responsibility for agriculture in CARICOM’s quasi-Cabinet, is expected to update on how the strategy is being implemented.
The meeting will also provide an opportunity for talks with Republic Bank on proposals that Guyana has worked on with a number of other CARICOM countries. (BT)
