Guyana, FAO sign major agreements, including to host regional conference
Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha and FAO’s Assistant Deputy-Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Julio Berdegue, sign their respective agreements
Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha and FAO’s Assistant Deputy-Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Julio Berdegue, sign their respective agreements

THE Government of Guyana and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), on Friday, signed two agreements for the Country Programme Framework (CPF) and a Memorandum of Responsibilities (MoR) for the hosting of the 38th FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean (LARC 38) in 2024.

The agreements were signed on the heels of the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo that are currently being held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
The CPF is an agreement between the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, which sets out the priority areas of work in which the two partners will engage during the period 2022–2026.

In brief remarks, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, told reporters that, through the CPF agreement, strategic framework will be translated into actions, to contribute to the realisation of Guyana’s development agenda.

“Those documents reflect our priorities in areas of cooperation and collaboration. Over the years, the FAO has played a very important role helping the government in various areas. This here shows our priorities in certain areas as a government and particularly as a ministry,” Mustapha said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd and FAO’s Assistant Deputy-Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Julio Berdegue, share a light moment (Adrian Narine photos)

Meanwhile, the Memorandum of Responsibilities (MoR) for hosting the 38th FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean (LARC 38) was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd.

The MoR sets out the respective responsibilities to be assumed by the Government of Guyana and, more directly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the priority areas of support.

At the 37th Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, held back in March, Guyana was unanimously endorsed by the 33 member states to host the 38th edition of the event which is scheduled for 2024.
Minister Todd said, that the agreements will see Guyana making use of its resources to be fully integrated into the global economy.

“We are at very good position in terms of resource base with the oil and gas revenues to really make massive gains in terms of our diversification process and we have to do that by being fully integrated within the global economy.”

He said that working along with multilateral agencies like the FAO, shows the government’s dedication to achieving its objectives for advancement and further development.

“Working with the FAO, as a multilateral agency, shows that we are connected fully, so our national policies are in line with our regional objectives which are also aligned with multilateral policy making at the global level. We know the initiative we need to embrace and this partnership will take us to that level in terms of our own advancement.”

In sharing his thoughts on the signing of the agreements, FAO’s Assistant Deputy-Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Julio Berdegue, said he believed Guyana was on the right path to transforming agriculture in the Caribbean and the Americas.

“This meeting that we are having here confirms that Guyana is the place to be here today, no other country in the Americas is conducting a transformation of its agri-food system to the extent with the level of political support that I have seen here in Guyana.”

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