The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is hosting the fifth hemispheric meeting of Agriculture Ministers of the Caribbean and the Americas, between October 25 and 31.

With capacity building for food security as its theme, the meeting, which takes place at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Montego Bay, in association with Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), is highest hemispheric meeting of ministers of agriculture.

Jamaica has the distinction of being the first English-speaking country in the hemisphere to host this forum; and in keeping with the Government's thrust for increased private sector involvement for the advancement of sustainable agriculture, this will be a new feature of the 2009 ministerial meeting.

Managing director of Jamaica National Building Society, Earl Jarrett, will lead the 'Private Sector Dialogue', in association with IICA's Agri-business Directorate, the Caribbean Agribusiness Association and the CARICOM Secretariat.

Tuesday's main focus

The 'Private Sector Dialogue', scheduled for Tuesday, October 27, will focus on affordable financing, credit and risk management; regional trade agreements and marketing; as well as research and technology transfer.

The objective of this forum is to identify policy options for addressing these issues through public/private sector partnership interventions.

Agreements emerging from this dialogue will be presented in the second plenary session of the ministerial meeting. Following this, Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton will propose a resolution for IICA to develop a framework for the permanent inclusion of the 'private sector dialogue' in future meetings.