I. PREAMBLE
I am honoured by the invitation of the Caribbean Food Crops Society to speak at its Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting. Your longevity is indicative of an accumulation of knowledge and service to the agricultural sector of the Caribbean which I, a mere Economist and occasional dabbler in the special field of agricultural economics cannot match. Therefore I thank you in advance for your kindness and tolerance.
II. INTRODUCTION
His Excellency the President of Guyana
The Hon. Prime Minister of Guyana
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas
Cabinet Ministers of Guyana and other Honourable Ministers of Government of the Caribbean Community
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Mr. James Moss-Solomon, Chairman, and other Members of the Task Force
Members of the Private Sector
Deputy Secretary-General and other members of the Executive Management of the CARICOM Secretariat
Other Distinguished Participants
Representatives of the Media
His Excellency the President of Guyana
The Hon. Prime Minister of Guyana
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas
Cabinet Ministers of Guyana and other Honourable Ministers of Government of the Caribbean Community
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Mr. James Moss-Solomon, Chairman, and other Members of the Task Force
Members of the Private Sector
Deputy Secretary-General and other members of the Executive Management of the CARICOM Secretariat
Other Distinguished Participants
Representatives of the Media
[Salutations]
It is customary on occasions like these for us to remind ourselves of the times in which we are gathered. This 27th Special Meeting of COTED is being opened here this morning against the background of a global food crisis, precipitated by spiralling commodity prices worldwide, and characterized by Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as a “ Silent Tsunami”.
Ladies and Gentlemen_
A warm welcome to my colleague Ministers of Agriculture and officials here for the 27th Special Ministerial Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development. I hope that your stay in Guyana will be enjoyable, but more importantly that our deliberations will be successful.
A warm welcome to my colleague Ministers of Agriculture and officials here for the 27th Special Ministerial Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development. I hope that your stay in Guyana will be enjoyable, but more importantly that our deliberations will be successful.
[Salutations]
It is customary on occasions like these for us to remind ourselves of the times in which we are gathered. This 27th Special Meeting of COTED is being opened here this morning against the background of a global food crisis, precipitated by spiralling commodity prices worldwide, and characterized by Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as a “ Silent Tsunami”.
Ladies and Gentlemen_
At a time when the world is grappling with climate change and its consequences, this 25th special meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (Environment) is timely. Our Agenda Items speak to critical issues facing the Region, and our deliberations in Georgetown will seek to charter a course for meaningful action for the future.
Within this context, it is appropriate that this COTED Meeting will discuss the development of a Regional Policy on Environment as a direct response to the common challenges and opportunities we face.
The agri-food distribution service sector is particularly important as it facilitates the delivery of agri-food products from the producer to the consumer using the services of retailers, wholesalers and restaurants. The agri-food distribution services sector is particularly important to CARICOM. The Food Distribution Service industry in CARICOM has over 17,000 firms, employing 112,000 people and generating sales of US$ 5.6 billion per annum.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Professor Norman Girvan of the University of the West Indies, Institute of International Relations, makes strong recommendations for the development of common policies for major sector priorities, in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), over the period 2006-2011. These include, Domestic Agriculture, Sustainable Tourism, Transport, Energy, and Information and Communication Technologies.