SVG seeking closer Agriculture ties with Latin American countries

St.Vincent and the Grenadines is seeking to develop closer trade links with Mexico and other Latin American Countries.{{more}}

On Wednesday, August 26th, 2009, Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture Senator Saboto Caesar, accompanied by Chief Agricultural Officer Reuben Robertson, journeyed to Costa Rica to attend the Second Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Agri-business with Mexico, other Latin American Countries and countries from the Eastern Caribbean. The three-day meeting began in San Jose, Costa Rica, yesterday August 27th, and ends tomorrow, August 29th.

The meeting is expected to continue dialogue which started in June 2006 when talks were held between Mexico and other Central American countries to promote trade and agri-business between the countries of Meso-America and strengthen and promote frank and open dialogue between the business sectors of the respective regions, in an effort to promote bilateral commercial and agribusiness trade.

Minister Caesar and Robertson are expected to attend a number of ministerial and plenary sessions, as well as hold discussions on investments in agro-tourism and participate in other engagements with prominent investors of some of the large supermarket chains and firms, and participate in an exposition in which a number of products are expected to be on display.

Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture and Costa Rica’s Ministry of Agriculture are jointly holding the meeting to promote commercial trade in agro-processed food products, as well as strategic alliances and joint investments between agri-business persons of the region. The meeting is also being held to promote the creation of a Meso-American and Caribbean Agri-business Council (CAMC) which will work as a discussion and dispute mechanism for the private and agri-business sector of the countries of the regions involved. It will also work as an entity for the design of common strategies aimed at improving the sector’s competitiveness. (HN)