New IICA Director General to visit CARICOM Secretariat

New Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Dr. Manuel Otero, has signalled his intention to visit the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat soon.

The indication came during a meeting with CARICOM Programme Manager, Agriculture and Industry, Ms. Nisa Surujbally, shortly after his inauguration earlier this month in San Jose, Costa Rica. Ms. Surujbally represented CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque at Dr. Otero’s swearing-in ceremony.

Argentine @manueloteroIICA, a 66-year-old veterinarian, took office as Director General of IICA, the principal agency in the Americas dedicated to the promotion of rural development. This was his message: ➡️ https://t.co/DAzCvQWAFE pic.twitter.com/03mv3EVR54

— IICA (@IICAnews) January 16, 2018

Among the areas they addressed at that initial meeting were institutional arrangements for agriculture that existed in the Region, and priority areas for interventions. They also discussed the relationship between IICA and the CARICOM Secretariat under the General Technical Cooperation Agreement (GTCA).

Ms. Surujbally said that she looked forward to Dr. Otero’s visit to the Secretariat as well as to a strengthened relationship between the two institutions. She said also that she looked forward to the new Director General’s participation in the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) which will be held in Barbados 8-12 October, under the theme ‘Strengthening Agriculture for a Healthier Future in the Region’.  CWA is the premier event on the Region’s agriculture calendar. It is a collaborative, roving event with the main partners being IICA, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the CARICOM Secretariat, the Caribbean Agricultural Research Development Institute (CARDI) and the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Cooperation on Agriculture and Rural Development (CTA).