Making a plea to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that its forum here be one with tangible outcomes, President Irfaan Ali yesterday said that countries must show how the regional bloc will ensure food and nutrition security while reducing poverty.
“We must produce the action plan. You are not here to dwell on the problems. That is what every conference will do. You are here as the policymakers to craft policies in a regional settings by learning from each other; best practices so that we can learn and maybe to unlearn. Maybe we are doing something that we think is right that we need to unlearn,” Ali told the opening of a high-level meeting with ministers of agriculture and representatives of CELAC countries.
The President underscored that the focus on food security needs to be swift, as global statistics show that Latin America and the Caribbean saw the number of hungry people increase by 13.2 million during the 2019-2021 period alone. He posited that if not addressed, those numbers could increase.
