–to help CARICOM accelerate ambitious ‘25 by 25’ food security goal

GUYANA and sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) State, Belize are set to foster closer symbiotic ties following their signing of a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday.

Among areas of interest on which the two countries will work closely, via the memorandum, are agriculture and food security, tourism, and climate change.

The pact was agreed by Belize’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Immigration Mr. Eamon Courtenay, and Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mr. Hugh Todd on Day Three of the four-day official visit here by Belize’s Prime Minister John Briceño, and will be implemented by a joint commission presided over by the foreign ministries of both countries.

In accordance with the agreement, the Joint Commission will have on board experts from the public and private sectors of both countries, and is expected to have its first meeting within three months of the MOU’s coming into force.

As President Dr. Irfaan Ali rightly observed after the deal was agreed, top of its agenda is collaboration on agricultural initiatives that will cater to the current CARICOM goal of reducing the region’s food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.

“Both of our countries are very keen on agriculture,” President Ali said. “If we combine our efforts with that of Suriname, we can have enough land assets to deploy to meet the food requirements of CARICOM, both from an input perspective and an output perspective. These are some of the things that have captured our discussion. And now we’re setting up a structure institutional mechanism to advance the discussion.”
President Ali noted that in the coming months, he anticipates innovative plans from the foreign ministers of both countries that would develop the infrastructure to have all the hatching eggs in the region produced between Guyana and Belize as part of the cooperation.

A NATURAL ALLY
Referring to Belize as “a natural ally” in helping Guyana to mobilise and enter new export markets, President Ali said that just as how this new deal opens up tremendous doors for Guyana in the support of the sugar sector, so, too, does Belize stand to benefit from Guyana’s relationship with Brazil.

“Belize, on the other hand, could advance their cause with Brazil, for example, and we are very happy that we could have facilitated the visit there by Prime Minister John Briceño and his delegation in understanding how we can expand this integration, and how we can create a huge hub in CARICOM itself to support the aspirations of Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras,” President Ali said, adding that Education and Healthcare are also among the major areas of cooperation expected to be explored through this collaboration.

On the Climate Change front, the president noted that seeing that Guyana and Belize share similar geographical characteristics, they will be working together to strengthen capacity going into the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Prime Minister Briceño, who shared similar sentiments as President Ali on the novelty of the agreement, noted that Belize’s having forests covering a significant percentage of its landmass just like Guyana makes it the perfect ally with which to share ideas.

“We talk on issues of climate change, protection of our environment or forests, you know, but Guyana is known for its pristine forests, which, yesterday, I had the pleasure of flying over… And, I mean, as I said, all you see is a tree cover for miles and miles and miles, which very few countries have,” PM Briceño said, adding: “Well, in Belize, we have 30% of our country on a protected status also. So, again, we are seeing similarities on how we can cooperate in the work that we are presently doing, or in our different countries.”

Noting also that he is proud to rekindle the strong relationship Guyana and Belize once shared, PM Briceño said: “I really truly see both countries once again renewing that friendship; strengthening that cooperation, assisting one another in different ways that we can. And so, for us to be able to sign a cooperation agreement this evening, to me, is a sense of accomplishment; a sense of achievement, and a sense of happiness that we are moving in the right direction.”

The Belizean leader further noted that with Guyana heading the CARICOM Quasi-Cabinet on Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification, and Food Security, and leading strategically implemented systems that are projected to mitigate the issue of food insecurity across the CARICOM region, his country is committed to working collaboratively with Guyana, and lending a hand directly in the area of agriculture to achieve this goal.