President Irfaan Ali and a delegation virtually attended the Eleventh Meeting of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) on Friday, where he provided an update on the Special Ministerial Taskforce (MTF) on Food Production and Food Security.
A release from the Office of the President yesterday said that the Head of State reported on the April to June progress of the MTF and recommended that it be further considered at the Forty-Second Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government next month.
The Lead for Agriculture in CARICOM urged the committee to prioritise the work of the Ministerial Taskforce and was frank in his opening remarks to say that he will move forward with those who are serious about getting the work done, the release added. To take the CARICOM Agri-Food System Strategy forward, the implementation plans identified priority commodities such as poultry, other meats (beef, pork and mutton), corn, rice and coconut products. He further stated that CARICOM has the ability to achieve the targets identified to lower these priority commodity imports by 2025 and the potential to up coconut exports.
The Caribbean Private Sector Organisation and the MTF led by Guyana’s Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, have met and are in agreement with the priority commodities, focusing on poultry and niche vegetables for the short term.
Ali reported that resource mobilisation has begun for the Regional E-Agriculture Strategy, and work is in progress for the development and implementation of both a Business-to-Business (B2B) Platform and a Government-to-Government (G2G) portal.
The release said that the Ministerial Taskforce recognised transport and logistics as integral to the effective implementation of the CARICOM agri-food systems agenda.
“In examining the potential and competitiveness of the sector as you would have expected, transportation is one of the critical issues that is linked to food production and for regional trade,” Ali stated. To this end, he has engaged the Lead CARICOM Head on Transport with a view to developing specific recommendations aimed at incentivising private sector interest and partnership in transport and logistics relative to the agri-food systems agenda.
The release said that President Ali further outlined some options, including the formation of an all-purpose company, the floating of a regional bond, approaching the private sector window of the Caribbean Development Bank and international financial institutions (such as EXIM Bank). Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley thanked the President for the speed in which he moved on the Food Production and Food Security Taskforce and urged all Member States to reinforce the issue of food security, the release said.
Other matters discussed included implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), an Update on the Comprehensive Review of the Common External Tariff (CET) and Community Rules of Origin, Supportive Macro-Economic Policy Environment, and the Implications of the CCJ Advisory Opinion to the opt Out Provisions of The Revised Treaty.
The Guyana delegation included the Ministers of Agriculture, Legal Affairs, and Foreign Affairs, along with the Foreign Secretary and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
