Delegates from 17 countries will meet in Costa Rica to discuss the Institute’s roadmap to address the hemisphere’s agricultural needs over the next four years.
San José, 16 July 2018 (IICA). Starting tomorrow, representatives from 17 countries will participate in the annual Executive Committee Meeting of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Costa Rica to discuss the hemispheric organization’s work plans for the next four years and to institute a program of rapprochement with the private sector.
At this 38th Regular Meeting of the Committee, which is one of the governing bodies of the Institute, IICA’s Director General, Manuel Otero, will present the 2018-2022 Medium Term Plan (MTP) for approval by government representatives. This new roadmap will guide the Institute in addressing the agricultural needs of its 34 member countries.
The Executive Committee is one of the Institute’s governing bodies, consisting of 12 Member States, elected for a two-year period, based on the principles of partial rotation and equitable geographical distribution.
This year it will be comprised of delegates from Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Santa Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who will be joined by emissaries from five other countries that expressed an interest in participating: Argentina, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States.
New general cooperation agreements will also be signed at the meeting, with entities such as the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), represented by its Director General, Didacus Jules; the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); the University for Peace; the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO); the Andean Community General Secretariat (CAN) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The Committee will also host an unprecedented discussion forum with representatives from the private sector, such as Bayern AG, Microsoft, the Junta Agroempresarial Dominicana – JAD (Dominican Republic Board of Agriculture) and the Center for Competitiveness of Panama’s Western Region (CECOM-RO).
Otero maintained that, “The forum represents an important step in fostering a closer relationship with the business sector and organized civil society. Governments cannot do everything on their own and building public-private sector alliances is essential. We want to publicize, promote and enhance this relationship”.
More information:
José Alfredo Alpízar, Press and Outreach Coordinator, IICA
