Remarks for end of Administration, Director General, Chelston Brathwaite (2002- 2010), January 15, 2010.
San Jose, January 15, 2010 (IICA). It is for me an honour and a pleasure to extend to each and every one of you a warm welcome to this ceremony for the inauguration of the new Director General of our Institute.
Eight years ago, on the 15th of January 2002, we presented a bold strategic vision for the modernization of our Institute. Today, eight years later, I am pleased to report that the plans and proposals, presented in the document, “Repositioning IICA to face the challenges of the 21st Century”, have been successfully implemented.
We have strengthened the technical programs and the Institute’s finances, promoted administrative efficiency, improved relations with our member states and our strategic partners and repositioned the Institute to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.
In 2002, the external auditors and the Audit Review Committee stated that the Institute “lacked economic viability due to the increase in the amount of quotas owed by the Member States.” As of December 31, 2002, such arrearages totaled US$13.5 million, a figure which had risen to US$17.7 million in December 31, 2003. The report indicated that the deterioration of the finances of the Institute would hinder the future development of the Institute.
As the result of concrete actions taken by the Administration in collaboration with the governing bodies of the Institute, we were able to reduce the amount owed from US$13.5 million in 2002 to less than US$200,000 today.
Today, all 34 member states of the Institute are in regular financial status and I have been told that this best financial state of the Institute since 1986 – 24 years ago.
For the sixth year in a row, the external auditors approved the financial statements of the Institute, attesting to the sound management of the Institute’s financial resources in conformity with the regulations of the Institute and international auditing standards.
We consolidated the Institute as an important partner in the implementation of the mandates emanating from the Summits of the Americas Process.
We have strengthened relations with the countries by implementing a new model for technical cooperation which has generated greater trust in the capacity of the Institute and in its leadership in agricultural throughout the hemisphere.
We have expanded that technical services provided by the Institute, adding Agrotourism, Organic Agriculture, Agroenergy, Agricultural Insurance, Biotechnology and Biosafety and Horizontal Cooperation.
We established an office in Miami to promote trade, agribusiness and food safety.
We established a Centre for Leadership in Agriculture to promote the development of young leaders with a global vision who can help the sector to face the challenges of agriculture and rural life in the future.
We have developed new differentiated information instruments aimed at different stakeholder groups in the community of agriculture, which has enabled us to project a new institutional image.
We have promoted a culture of financial prudence and performance evaluation at the institutional and individual levels, which has led to the adoption of a culture of transparency, responsibility and accountability.
We have strengthened our Offices as instruments for the delivery of technical cooperation by recruiting managers, and we developed a basic methodology (based on the experience of the Office in Brazil) for institutional reengineering aimed at achieving maximum efficiency in the provision of technical cooperation services at the national level.
We have increased awareness of the true contribution of agriculture to development, underscoring the importance of expanded agriculture, production chains and the importance of intersectoral linkages and the multidimensional concept.
We have made the promotion of food security a central part of our mission conscious that our democracies are not sustainable if citizens do not have access to food.
We have promoted the concept of a new development model where the promotion of the food and agricultural sector is central to the development process. We propose a new development model as we are convinced that the current models of development pursued in our countries have an anti-rural bias. We believe that concrete global actions are necessary to combat environmental degradation, global climate change, loss of biodiversity and increasing levels of poverty and food insecurity.
Working together with the Minister of Agriculture of Costa Rica, and CATIE we succeeded in obtaining approval from the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA) for the donation of five hectares of land for the construction of a new hospital in Turrialba, to provide improved medical services for this rural community.
And so today, I think we have completed our mission, a mission that was based on a fundamental belief that the challenges which we face in the 21st Century cannot be solved by the institutional arrangements or the strategies of the 20th Century.
And so today I am pleased to pass the torch to a new generation of leadership of IICA, I wish Dr. Victor Villalobos success with these new responsibilities. The task is not an easy one but the honor to serve the needs of 34 member states is a rewarding experience.
I wish to take this opportunity today, to present to you Sir, a copy of the report of the administration of IICA during the period 15th January 2002 to January 15th 2010. This report was prepared by some 70 professionals of this Institute and I thank them for their contribution. I hope that this report will provide you with a base of information to help you move this Institute to the next level of institutional growth.
When I joined this Institute in 1981, I had no idea that 20 years later I would call upon to lead the Institution but when the opportunity came, I did my best. And so I leave with a sense a personal satisfaction.
I am satisfied because:
- We have implemented a new vision and strategy that has kept the agricultural sector as central to the Inter-American development Agenda.
- We have implemented a technical cooperation model that has improved our services to the Member States.
- We have modernized the Institute and made it more responsive to the needs of the member states.
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, today is my opportunity to give thanks: I wish to thank all the Ministers of Agriculture of the Member States of the Americas past and present for your confidence and trust during the past 8 years.
Your decision to elect me as your Director General in 2001 was an honour for me, for my family, for my country, Barbados, and for the Caribbean and I believe that I have justified your choice.
Thanks to the Government and people of the Dominican Republic where I was elected in 2001, to the Government and people of Ecuador where I was reelected unanimously in 2005 and to the Government and people of Jamaica for the warm hospitality which we received in the recent meetings in Montego Bay.
I wish to thank the Government and people of Barbados for their endorsement of my election and my reelection and their continued support during the last 8 years.
I wish to thank the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of CARICOM for their trust, their endorsement of my candidacy and their confidence in my ability during my tenure of office.
Thanks to our strategic partners for cooperation and their contribution to the vision of “working together” which we have pursued in the last 8 years.
Thanks to friends, well wishers in CARICOM and the wider Caribbean for support and cooperation.
Allow me to pay tribute also to past Directors General of the Institute and thank them for their advice and support during the last 8 years. I speak of our Dr. Armando Samper, the late Dr. José Emilio Araujo, Dr. Francisco Morillo, Dr. Martin Piñeiro, and Dr. Carlos Aquino, all of whom have given me their words of wisdom during the last 8 years.
Thanks to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ambassadors of the Permanent Council of the OAS for cooperation and support.
Thanks also to the Secretary General, Mr. José Miguel Insulza, Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Albert Ramdin and the Staff of the OAS for cooperation and support.
I would like to thank President Arias and the Government and people of Costa Rica for all the assistance which we have received during my tenure of office from this beautiful country.
I wish to thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica his Excellency Sr. Bruno Stagno and his ministry for Cooperation and support.
I wish to thank the Minister of Agriculture, his Excellency Sr. Javier Flores and his team for cooperation and support.
I thank the entire Diplomatic Corps, the international and regional organizations for cooperation and support.
I also thank the media and the press for their assistance in the promotion of a new international image of our Institute.
But above all I wish to thank the staff of our Institute, the men and women who work daily to promote the ideals of this institution with dedication, loyalty and commitment.
Your loyalty, dedication, commitment and teamwork have contributed to the successful institutional renewal of IICA.
I thank you for your commitment to our shared values of flexibility and efficiency in operations, accountability to stakeholders, commitment to a vision of excellence, transparency in actions and a positive attitude of service. I wish to send a special message today to all our staff, International Professionals, National Professionals, General Services and consultants, I could not have done it without you and I will always be grateful for your cooperation, your support and your trust.
Thanks to my family, especially my wife, Rosanna, and our children, Candace, Tamara, Brendon, Andre and Rhea, for their support and understanding.
Thanks to my parents for the gifts of discipline, honesty and integrity.
And, finally, thanks to God for the health and strength which has allowed me to complete his mission.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen; the mission of IICA remains as important today as it was when the Institute was founded in 1942 and our relevance increases as the world´s challenges increases.
Your contribution is important for the future of the Institute and the future of agriculture in the Americas and I hope that you will provide the new administration with the commitment, support and loyalty that I have enjoyed in the last 8 years.
We must continue our efforts to make IICA the leading institution for international technical cooperation in agriculture in the Americas. The achievement of this goal will require your commitment and your contribution.
And to all of you, let me end with the words of the English writer William Shakespeare who wrote of Brutus’s farewell to Cassius in the Classic “Julius Caesar” “If we meet again we will smile, if not, this parting was well made”.
In the words of Horatio Spafford, “When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea-billows roll, Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to know: It is well; it is well with my soul.”
And finally
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course. I have kept the faith”
Thank you.
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