President Bharrat Jagdeo says that a number of “weighty issues” such as climate change, the global financial crisis, the tourism sector and agriculture in the region are expected to be high on the agenda for the upcoming Caricom Heads of Government Conference.

The conference is slated to be held from July 2-4 at the International Conference Centre in Guyana.

In underscoring the importance of these issues to the region, Jagdeo pointed out that the tourism sector in the region has taken a devastating blow in the financial crisis. He was speaking at a press conference held at the Caricom Headquarters on Friday.

When asked what specific aspects of the Jagdeo Initiative he will be emphasising at the conference, the President said policy makers have to make commitments towards ensuring food security in the region as a long-term goal. He also said that he would be encouraging his counterparts to take the necessary steps that will make agriculture a competitive tradable sector that will bring resources into the region. He said agriculture needed to be treated as a priority and stated that greater budgetary allotments had to be made in individual territories.

He said that the nine constraints identified in the initiative that can be a hindrance to the growth of agriculture as a business in the region must be tackled aggressively in each country.

The Jagdeo Initiative is a strategy for removing constraints to the development of agriculture in the Caribbean. It builds upon past regional efforts to develop a Common Agricultural Policy and identifies ten key binding constraints faced by the sector.