Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Competitiveness Inclusion Sustainable development

Meeting of delegates of the countries of the Americas gets under way

Tiempo de lectura: 3 mins.

At an activity being held prior to the most important ministerial meeting on agriculture in the Americas, the delegates are discussing an inter-American declaration intended to promote agricultural productivity and rural inclusion.

Representatives of 31 countries of the Americas attended the meeting.

Cancun, 19 October 2015 (IICA). The ministerial delegates of the countries of the Americas today began presenting the positions of their respective States on productivity, development, and rural inclusion, with a view to consolidating an inter-American declaration aimed at promoting joint activities on those issues.

This activity is a curtain raiser to the Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2015, the most important high-level forum for inter-American agriculture, which will begin on 20 October on the Riviera Maya.

The delegates, the direct representatives of the ministers of agriculture of the Member States of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), will engage in discussions before issuing a mandate on Thursday designed to guide actions in the region’s agricultural sector over the next two years.

The Director General of IICA, Víctor M. Villalobos, was the first to speak at the meeting, underscoring the great responsibility that the delegates have to construct shared desires and common proposals on the topic of agriculture.

“The position that each one of you will have to express is a reflection of the thinking of the heads of the agricultural bodies, and ultimately, of the vision your countries have of agricultural development”, remarked Villalobos.

The Meeting of Delegates is being chaired by Ricardo Aguilar Castillo, Under-Secretary of Food and Competitiveness of SAGARPA in Mexico.

Villalobos informed the meeting that the final declaration approved by the ministers of agriculture would be presented to the Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS), as it forms part of the Summits of the Americas process in which the continent’s Heads of State and Government are directly involved.

In concluding, Villalobos stated that “the Declaration is not binding in the legal sense, but as a political expression, it is of great value because it serves to send a message of Inter-American unity and commitment to the agricultural sector”.

The meeting of delegates will conclude tomorrow. The countries taking part are Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Uruguay, the United States and Venezuela.

More information: héctor.iturbe@iica.int

Share

Related news​

San José, Costa Rica

July 4, 2025

A new IDB-IICA publication maps the sustainable livestock farming initiatives underway in the countries of the Southern Agricultural Council (CAS)

This document summarizes the work carried out during the first year of operation of the Sustainable Cattle Farming Platform of the Americas. This is a collaborative space managed jointly by IICA and the IDB whose mission is to contribute to information sharing, collaboration, and the generation and dissemination of knowledge on the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of livestock production systems that coexist in the different regions of the Americas.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

San José, Costa Rica

July 3, 2025

IICA promotes environmental education in the classroom with its handover of the first Urban Productive Garden in Costa Rica

Officers of IICA’s Community Outreach Association, APC, handed over tools and guides to the “República de Paraguay” school, for the purpose of establishing a productive garden.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Manuel Otero, Director General del IICA; José Emilio Guerrero, profesor de la UCO de España; Rosa Gallardo, Directora de la Cátedra de Inteligencia Artificial y Agricultura del mismo centro académico; Carlos Alzate, experto en IA y CEO de AI Fund; Gloria Abraham, Carlos Gustavo Cano Sanz, Eduardo Trigo, y Martín Piñeiro, miembros del Consejo Asesor para la Transformación de los Sistemas Agroalimentarios del Instituto; y Jorge Werthein, Asesor Especial del Director General del IICA.

San José, Costa Rica

July 3, 2025

Artificial intelligence represents a revolution with great potential for agriculture, experts say during IICA’s Advisory Council session on Agri-food Systems Transformation

During the discussion, participants emphasized the need for the integration of AI to be an inclusive process, with special attention given to small-scale and family farmers. It was also stressed that AI should not be seen as an end in itself, but rather as a means to transform agriculture with a focus on value chains.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins