Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade

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With food prices soaring in the Caribbean and around the globe and its annual food bill expected to climb this year, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is taking a proactive approach to the issue by hosting an international investment Forum in Guyana early next month tailored specifically to attracting investment for its agriculture sector.

The two-day Regional Agriculture Investment Forum commencing on June 6th, will provide an un-paralleled and unprecedented opportunity for governments, farmers, entrepreneurs and investment bankers to meet in one place and discuss issues ranging from the setting up of mega farms, using the vast tracts of uncultivated land in the Caribbean, to the need for technological improvements to in the agriculture sector to making the Caribbean a net exporter and user of food produced in the Region.

Adequate time has been devoted over the two days to allow potential investors to have one on one networking and discussion sessions with farmers, fund managers, commercial and investment bankers, and land owners, cabinet ministers dealing with industry, agriculture and development as well as agricultural experts among others attending the Forum.

On June 8th, the organisers will also be laying on field trips to strategic agricultural projects and to land areas being offered to CARICOM and international investors at extremely low rates.

Confirmation about attendance and participation has to date come from a number of North American, Latin American and Caribbean groups, including Sunbird Foods of Florida, Agro Machines of Brazil and the Canada-Caribbean Business Council/Gui Grow from Ontario, Canada. The Inter American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the World Bank and the Fund of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting States (OPEC) are also expected to participate fully at the two-day Forum, the first of its kind specifically dealing with agriculture and food production.

Coordinator Maxine Harris says she is confident that the Forum will provide investors "with screened, solid" Projects and investment opportunities which have good potential for further development. The idea of the Investors' Forum emerged from discussions among CARICOM Heads of Government about promoting growth in the agriculture sector. It was agreed that the increased levels of public and private financing would be needed to promote higher levels of innovation and growth and ensure that the Caribbean got its share of an increasing global market in food-based products," she said.

As regards to the actual agenda, the Forum will be opened by host H.E Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana and Lead CARICOM Head of Government on agriculture. Secretary General of CARICOM H. E Edwin Carrington will also speak at the opening ceremony. An issue that is expected to attract the attention of participants, fund managers and venture capitalists in particular, is likely to be the presentation by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago on the Mega Farms concept that it has been pushing in recent months.

Organisers will also present a dossier they have complied on bankable projects in several CARICOM Member States. Guyana, Suriname, Belize, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are the countries with the largest land areas available for agricultural development.

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