Costa Rica and IICA sign agreement to organize hemispheric agricultural meeting

San Jose, Costa Rica, june 2, 2011. This October, Costa Rica will become the agricultural capital of the America when it hosts the most important meeting of Ministers of agriculture of the hemisphere, pursuant to the terms of an agreement signed on June 1 by authorities from the Ministries of Foreign Relations and Agriculture and Livestock Farming of Costa Rica and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The 2011 Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas will be attended by representatives of IICA’s 34 member countries.

The agreement was signed by Carlos Roverssi, acting Minister of Foreign Relations; Gloria Abraham, Minister of Agriculture, Victor M. Villalobos, Director General of IICA. The document details the responsibilities of the Government of Costa Rica and IICA as organizers of the meeting, which includes the Sixteenth Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), the Institute’s highest governing body.

According to Minister Abraham, “In agriculture, we talk about climate change, rising prices and marketing system, but we have overlooked the topic of innovation, which plays a key role if we talk about food production, especially in the future”.

The motto chosen for the meeting “Sowing innovation to harvest prosperity”, calls attention to the need for governments to invest more resources in innovations that will make agriculture competitive, sustainable and inclusive.

Minister Roverssi noted that in recent years, Costa Rica has been promoting technological innovation in, “but this investment in research and development also has to be made in the agricultural sector.”

Given the nature and importance of the meeting, the President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, and Minister Abraham declared it to be an event of public and national interest, and invited public institution and private businesses to contribute to it.

The Director General of IICA, Victor M. Villalobos, stated that “Today, agriculture involves much more than just producing food; it is a fundamental pillar of the development of our countries, which, without a doubt, still attach great importance to agriculture. This meeting will provide the ministers with an opportunity to reach agreements and to join together to face one of the most important challenges facing humanity: to guarantee food security and mitigate the impact of climate change.”

For more information, contact:
miguel.diaz56@gmail.com
rbrenes@mag.go.cr
patricia.leon@iica.int