GUYANA will be represented at the 37th Session of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)’s Regional Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean (LARC) in Quito, Ecuador, which will commence on March 28 and conclude on April 1, 2022.

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, will be leading Guyana’s delegation and will have discussions, deliberate, reach consensus and make recommendations on how the region can become more sustainable.

Minister Mustapha, during an invited comment to the media on Friday, said that he was looking forward to representing Guyana and addressing a number of issues in relation to food production in the region.

“At this conference, a number of issues will be discussed there – food production, looking at the measures to improve food production – because with the pandemic for the last two years and now with the war in Russia and Ukraine, the FAO predicted that we may have a short fall [of] about 20-30 per cent in food production,” he said.

At the conference, Minister Mustapha will have the opportunity to share Guyana’s vision, while discussing technological, institutional and organisational innovations with other Heads of Government to find joint solutions to the challenges of food, agriculture, and climate change.

“This conference here will help to brainstorm ways and means on how we can improve as [a] region, how we can ramp up food production and at the same time make sure that everybody gets enough food to eat for the next few years,” he added.

Last November, Minister Todd presented Guyana as a candidate to host the 38th Session of FAO’s Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024. The voting and announcement of the next host country will take place at the conference in Ecuador and Guyana is hopeful that, with the support of several Latin American and Caribbean countries, it will be selected to host LARC 38.

Every two years, the FAO brings together the governments of its 33 member states in Latin America and the Caribbean to establish the regional priorities of the organisation for the next biennium.

All 33 countries are expected to attend the upcoming conference so as to deliberate, reach consensus, and set the agenda for FAO’s work in the region. Ultimately, the countries will determine the necessary actions that will lead to efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems.