MR. MANUEL OTERO, the Argentinian candidate for the post of Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) made a two-day visit to Guyana last week in a quest to win support in the elections for that post which will be held in October.
Mr Otero made courtesy calls on Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder; Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Audrey Waddell;   Ambassador Colin Granderson, of the CARICOM Secretariat, as well as the office of the representative of the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the local office of the IICA.

His aim he said was  to let these officials get to know him and know  some of his visions for the continuing development of IICA in its role of  promoting sustainable agricultural development among member states  through the facilitation of innovative technical cooperation.
In a brief interview at Argentina’s embassy in Georgetown, Mr Otero who is a veterinarian by profession told Chronicle that during his courtesy calls on local officials, he had learnt a great deal about agriculture in Guyana and the efforts of the Government to implement policies for the benefit of farmers.
He added that he had also visited the CARICOM Secretariat where he learnt more about CARICOM and the Regional integration process.

He said: “Since I am from Argentina I found that I have to be very humble and be conscious that the reality of the other countries in South America is totally different from the reality of the Caribbean countries.”
He said that he and Minister Holder agreed on the necessity for IICA to differentiate its strategy for the Caribbean from that of its strategy for the Latin American countries.
He added that as a candidate for the position of Director General he had made a commitment to Minister Holder that if elected he will create within IICA the position of a Regional Director for the Caribbean who will be responsible for executing strategies suited to the needs of farmers and the development of agriculture in the Region.

Himself and Minister Holder had also agreed on the need  for IICA to strengthen the  work of the Caribbean Agriculture  Research and Development Institute (CARDI).
He also pledged if elected to ensure greater collaboration between the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and IICA to ensure that their programs for agricultural development activities do not overlap and create wastage of time, effort and money.
Mr. Otero, 67, worked with IICA in various senior positions for several years his last post being IICA representative to Brazil from 2011 to 2015.
He said he would  also promote Guyana as an IICA member state for membership in the  Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE) , a regional centre dedicated to research and graduate education in agriculture, and the management, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources also based in Costa Rica and headed by a Guyanese Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim. (Clifford Stanley)