Buenos Aires, 5 August 2025 (IICA). Three ministers from Central America and the Caribbean will visit Argentina this week, along with the Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Manuel Otero, with the goal of strengthening agricultural trade and the exchange of technologies and innovations.
Roberto José Linares, Minister of Agricultural Development of Panama; Ravi Ratiram, Senator and Minister of Agriculture, Land, and Fisheries of Trinidad and Tobago; and Frederick Stephenson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Consumer Affairs of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, will have an intensive schedule in Buenos Aires organized by IICA, which serves as a bridge between countries in the region in order to boost cooperation and trade.
The ministers’ schedule includes meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, and with representatives of the private sector. Another important activity will be their participation in the Congress of AAPRESID, the influential Argentine agricultural producers’ association that promotes sustainability and innovation.
Jorge Werthein, advisor to the Director General of the Inter-American organization, and Fernando Camargo, IICA’s Representative in Argentina, will accompany the visiting ministers and Manuel Otero in the meetings at Argentina’s Foreign Ministry and Secretariat of Agriculture.
Linares, Ratiram, and Stephenson will also meet with Argentine agricultural entrepreneurs to explore opportunities for cooperation and trade; visit the headquarters of the National Agricultural Technology Institute (INTA) in Castelar, Buenos Aires Province; and take part in a panel discussion at the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, the country’s oldest enterprise, founded in 1854, where business opportunities will be discussed.
Interaction with farmers
In Buenos Aires, the ministers of Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago will also participate in the Congress of the Argentine No-Till Farmers Association (AAPRESID), a leading regional and global organization with nearly 1800 members that promotes production systems that regenerate the soil and the environment.
Leading Argentine and international experts will discuss the present and future of agriculture at the Congress, as well as the link between science and production, with a focus on agricultural transformation and innovation scenarios.
For the second consecutive year, IICA will be heavily involved in the AAPRESID Congress, under a strategic partnership between the two institutions.
Linares, Ratiram, and Stephenson will take part in panel discussions organized jointly by AAPRESID and IICA, along with Otero and international experts such as Kip Tom, a US farmer and Vice Chair of Rural Policy at the America First Policy Institute; Jack Bobo, Executive Director of the Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Rattan Lal, 2020 World Food Prize laureate and joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who is considered the world’s foremost authority on soil science; Walter Baethgen, Senior Research Scientist at the Columbia Climate School; and Marcelo Torres, President of AAPRESID.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
