Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas to be held in Costa Rica will consolidate collective action among the countries and strengthen the sector that guarantees food security and global sustainability, affirms Director General of IICA

Otero recalcó que la cooperación técnica tiene que estar al servicio de los países con propuestas concretas y con ese espíritu es fundamental la presencia de todos los ministros y ministras de Agricultura en la reunión en Costa Rica. — Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA, explained that technical cooperation must be at the service of countries, providing concrete proposals, and in that spirit, it is crucial for each and every minister of Agriculture to be in attendance at the meeting in Costa Rica.

San Jose, 26 September 2023 (IICA) – The Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas, to be held in October in Costa Rica, will serve to propose joint actions to strengthen the role of the region’s agriculture sector as a guarantor of food security and global sustainability at a time when climate, economic and military crises and changes in the international context call for renewed, more productive and resilient agriculture, affirms Manuel Otero, Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperación on Agriculture (IICA).

In reaffirming the invitation to the ministers of Agriculture and other high authorities of the sector to participate in the Conference, which will be held from 3-5 October at IICA’s headquarters in Costa Rica, Otero also gave more details about the event, this year titled “Hemispheric Partnership for Food Security and Sustainable Development”.

“We will host the ministers of agriculture of each of our member countries as well as special guests, including the presidents of some of those countries. We will also have a Nobel laureate, a World Food Prize winner and the CEO of the World Food Prize Foundation, among others”, commented Otero in speaking about the invitation.

During the Conference, the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA) will also meet, which is comprised of 34 ministers of Agriculture from the region and constitutes IICA’s highest governing body.

The summit’s key purpose is to create a partnership among the countries of the Americas to successfully address challenges related to food security and environmental changes.

“No country, no matter how powerful, can tackle these challenges on its own and the technical cooperation derived from this conference could be the engine of progress in the agriculture sector”, said Otero.

“These are shared challenges that must be addressed in a supranational manner, implementing changes in technical cooperation. The attendance of our ministers of Agriculture is critical to meet these objectives”, he further stated.

Otero explained that technical cooperation must be at the service of countries, providing concrete proposals, and in that spirit, it is crucial for each and every minister of Agriculture to be in attendance at the meeting in Costa Rica.

“We are nearing the date of this critical ministerial conference, during which we will underscore the importance of agriculture and of our countries taking on a leading role in making key changes. This will allow us to overcome the challenges of the new international scenario and to renew the role of our region’s agriculture”, he concluded.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int