The Director General of the inter-American organization highlighted the agricultural sector’s contributions to development and held talks with high-ranking authorities of Brazil, China, Spain and Mexico.
San Jose, 28 July, 2018 (IICA). The Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Manuel Otero, attended a dinner of the G20 Ministers of Agriculture in Buenos Aires and, in that context, participated in the inauguration of Argentina’s 2018 Rural Expo, during which he highlighted the agricultural sector’s contributions to the South American country’s development.
“Argentina’s rural areas are on their feet and making enormous contributions to the country’s economy, with record production of wheat and they are rapidly regaining their position in the international beef market. This is a sector that combines two pillars which are key to development: technology and qualified human resources,” stated the head of IICA, the inter-American organization that promotes agricultural and rural development.
Otero also held discussions with the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Spain, Luis Planas Puchades, with whom he will meet again in September in Madrid, and with the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food of Mexico, Baltazar Hinojosa Ochoa. At the same time, he made contacts with the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, Song Jianchao, and with the Under Secretary for International Relations of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, Odilson Ribeiro e Silva.
“We continue to forge strategic partnerships in order to expand the scope and effectiveness of an activity that is essential to formulating and strengthening public policies of quality: technical cooperation of excellence,” said the Director General of IICA. Otero also underscored the convergence between the agenda discussed by the G20 Ministers of Agriculture in Buenos Aires and IICA’s 2018-2022 Medium Term Plan, the organization’s new institutional roadmap recently approved by delegates from 17 countries at a meeting held in Costa Rica.
“Responsible use of soils, food loss and food wastage and innovation applied to agriculture. These topics discussed by the ministers fully coincide with IICA’s agenda, and with our institution’s new Medium Term Plan, which is likewise aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). IICA is internalizing the issues of the G20 agenda addressed in Buenos Aires”, Otero emphasized.
The Director General of IICA also acknowledged the efforts made by the Ministry of Agroindustry of Argentina, as host of the meeting, and praised the speech delivered by the country’s Vice President, Gabriela Michetti, who paid tribute to the work of rural women and also became the first woman to inaugurate Argentina’s Rural Expo.
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Pilar Sancho, Strategic Communications Specialist, IICA
