MIRAMAR – A Team of CARICOM Officials were in South Florida to discuss investment opportunities in agriculture and agri-business in the CARICOM region on February 10-11, 2016 at the Miramar Cultural Center.
The CARICOM Team of officials representing the region met with several firms on Thursday, February 11th the second day of the CARICOM/CUBA /FLORIDA Trade and Investment Conference organized by Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA).
CARICOM Team
The team of officials, headed by the Minister of Trade and Investment of Belize Rafael Contreras included Ambassador Bayney Karran of Guyana, Dean of the CARICOM Diplomatic Corps in the United States; a team from the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI) headed by its executive director Dr. Barton Clarke, Mr. Gerry Gouveia, former chairman of the Private Sector Council of Guyana and Mr. Wesley Kirton, director of Caribbean outreach at OAA participated in a forum hosted by Fowler White Burnett, P.A., which represents several US and international firms which have investments in and do business with Latin America and the Caribbean. The Fowler White team was headed by shareholder, Mr. John Friedhoff.
The cultivation and processing of key crops with significant export potential were identified and a menu of incentives for investors outlined. Minister Contreras and Ambassador Karran spoke of the encouraging investment climate in the CARICOM region and the availability of arable land while Mr. Gouveia addressed issues relating to logistics to ensure the efficient transport of produce and products to international markets.
In addition to discussing agricultural development, environmental needs and economic impact, the forum addressed the need to move to agro-processing and agriculture based manufacturing.
It was also agreed that faculty interaction among the University of the West Indies, the University of Guyana, the Guyana School of Agriculture and Zamorano University in Honduras should be encouraged as well as increased interaction between the CARICOM nations and the private agriculture sector in the United States with a focus on bilateral and multilateral funding to promote investment and agro processing in the region.
Meetings were also held with other companies including Ocho Rios Foods whose brands are widely distributed in the international market. The Ocho Rios team headed by its chairman Mr. Aston Lue outlined a variety of new agri-based products for which there are markets and has requested additional information related to cultivation and processing especially in Guyana and Belize.
Conference Chair, Wesley Kirton said, “the meetings with the individual firms provided an opportunity for more in-depth discussions following the previous day’s deliberations and for questions to be answered and ideas exchanged”. “Follow up discussions will take place on issues such as the legal framework under which land for cultivation would be made available to investors as well as the willingness of farmers to sell their crops directly to companies that invest in processing facilities”.
“We had two days of very good deliberations and these will be followed up with more meetings later this month when the executive director of CARDI visits Florida en route to a meeting in Central America,” Kirton said.
