Experts convened by the IDB, ECLAC, FAO, IICA and IFPRI highlight collective action and cooperation as key for strengthening agrifood trade in the Americas

San José, September 8, 2023 (IICA). Partnerships between the public, private and academic sectors and multilateral organizations are necessary to boost trade in agrifood products in the Americas, according to experts gathered at the Headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in San José, Costa Rica.

During the workshop “Strengthening the region’s agrifood trade to boost its contribution to sustainable development and food security,” the specialists discussed the challenges facing the sector in a fast-changing, uncertain international context, at an event organized by the IDB, ECLAC, FAO, IFPRI and IICA.

The participants underscored the fact that the region’s agrifood trade not only meets the domestic demand of the countries of the Americas, but also contributes significantly to world agrifood exports, thereby strengthening sustainable development and food security.

IICA Director General Manuel Otero said it was vitally important to strengthen the multilateral trading system, improve the use of current international trade agreements, and promote intraregional trade.

He also remarked that IICA and the other agencies had a responsibility to provide concrete answers to help the States guarantee the world’s food supply.

“We are a catalyst for collective action by the countries and sectors, being mindful of the fact that no one can overcome all the obstacles on their own, and no one can be left behind. For IICA, partnerships for supranational cooperation are essential, which is why we encourage and promote spaces like this one,” Otero observed.

Paolo Giordano, Principal Economist of the IDB’s Integration and Trade Sector pointed out that food security was one of the highest priorities of his multilateral organization. “We seek to support projects and strengthen the institutional architecture so that international trade contributes not only to the food security of this region, but also that of the rest of the world,” he said.

José Durán, Economic Affairs Officer and Chief of ECLAC’s Regional Trade and Integration Unit, highlighted the importance of supporting the Latin American and Caribbean countries in order to promote trade and the recovery of agriculture, and create renewed, resilient agricultural systems, each with their respective comparative advantages.

“The administration and implementation of trade agreements is essential to meet the region’s need for modern agriculture that responds to the demands of the market. There must be greater coordination of the exchange of information between agencies and government bodies to increase agricultural trade,” he added.

Pablo Rabczuk, FAO Trade and Agri-Food Systems Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, remarked that it had been shown that joint efforts could boost the work of promoting agrifood trade for the benefit of small producers, family farmers and SMEs across Latin America and the Caribbean.

“The institutions represented here have a common objective and that is to provide support tools, generate evidence, build capacities and create opportunities, so that entrepreneurs in the agrifood sector and potential exporters can gain access to new markets and contribute to food security. Working together is how we will help expand agrifood trade in our region,” he said.

The acting head of the Latin American region and Senior Research Coordinator in the Markets, Trade and Institutions Unit at IFPRI, Valeria Piñeiro, mentioned that “The idea is to have all the institutions working together to carry out successful joint actions and promote change and modernization in trade relations in the agriculture sector.”

She added that her organization’s promotion of tools for development was based on four pillars: trade, innovation, climate change, and poverty and nutrition.

Daniel Rodríguez, manager of IICA’s International Trade and Regional Integration Program, believed that action should be coordinated at the global level to strengthen trade’s contribution in the region.

“From the outset we aim to implement actions that boost the contribution that the region’s agrifood trade makes to sustainable development and food security,” he remarked.

Cooperation and opportunities

During the discussions, the experts agreed that the new global scenario called for efforts to reconfigure the multilateral trading system, prevent the emergence of rules and regulations that could potentially restrict trade, improve the use of the trade agreements that have been signed, and consolidate and increase intraregional trade. They also considered which new tools should be used to help design public policies that make agricultural production one of the key components of the current dynamics of trade relations.

Martín Piñeiro, the Director of the Agrarian Affairs Committee of the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI) and Director General Emeritus of IICA, commented that in the new international economic context the agro-industrial sector was facing major challenges due to geopolitical changes, the reorganization of global value chains, and climate change and the impact of environmental concerns on agricultural trade.

According to Piñeiro, in the new international context the countries of the region need to develop flexible, intelligent strategies for integrating into the world economy.

“We have to identify opportunities for cooperation and joint actions to defend multilateralism, strengthen regionalism, and get to grips with this more difficult, complex and potentially conflict-ridden world,” he added.

Gloria Abraham, former Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica and former chair of the World Trade Organization (WTO) body responsible for agricultural negotiations, said the countries should harness the potential of the agrifood subsectors that also have international competitive capacity, and pay close attention to the discussion about the benefits of trade and the responsibility of generating benefits at the global level.

“We have to talk about the benefits of international trade and the need for an internal distribution policy, since adequate levels of performance and productivity must be created,” added Abraham, Costa Rica’s former ambassador in Geneva and an IICA international consultant.

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