The Institute will prepare a document that will serve as the basis for discussions on food security to take place within the framework of the OAS General Assembly this year.
San Jose, Costa Rica, March 15, 2012 (IICA). The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) will place its expertise in the area of food security at the service of the foreign ministers of the region, who will participate in the 42nd General Assembly of the OAS, to be held in Bolivia this year.
At the request of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), IICA will prepare a document that will provide input for the discussions the foreign ministers will hold in Cochabamba on June 3-5. The theme of the meeting is “Food Security with Sovereignty.”
Ambassador Albert Ramdin, Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, met recently with Victor M. Villalobos, Director General of IICA, and reaffirmed the interest of the OAS in receiving the document.
One of the strategic objectives of IICA, which is celebrating 70 years of institutional life this year, is to increase the contribution of agriculture to food security.
In pursuit of this goal, the Institute supports its 34 member countries in developing policies that will increase the contribution of family and small-scale agriculture to food supply, which should be the focus of any proposal presented during the General Assembly and any call to action issued in its final declaration.
IICA will also attend other important OAS meetings this year. For example, Dr. Villalobos will participate in the Ninth Hemispheric Forum on Civil Society and Social Actors, to be held in Washington, D.C., on April 26-27, in preparation for the Cochabamba meeting.
Plans also call for the Director General to present the IICA 2011 Annual Report to the OAS Permanent Council in April.
For more information, contact:
evangelina.beltran@iica.int
Image gallery: Visit of Ambassador Albert Ramdin to IICA Headquarters, March 2012
