Premier of Montserrat Joseph Taylor-Farrell has called for more investments in regional shipping to better facilitate movement of food and other products throughout the Caribbean.
He made the call on Thursday during his address at the opening of the inaugural Agri-Investment Forum and Expo hosted by the Guyana Government in collaboration with the Caricom Secretariat (CARICOM).
Taylor-Farrell lamented for that over 25 years, the region has been speaking about better systems for the movement of food from one nation to the other but to date, there has been little to no improvements.
“We now need investment in shipping so that we can move those products from [e.g.] Guyana in the south to Jamaica in the north…this is what we need at this point in time, let’s put our money where our mouth is and invest in shipping,” he posited.
In fact, the regional leader called on other Caribbean Heads of Governments to ensure investments are made, as soon as possible, in at least two ships: one to ply the route in the north and another in the south.
“So that we can move our products from one nation to the next,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investment and Aviation of The Bahamas Isaac Chester Cooper, explained that the island nation imports 90% of their food from outside of the region. This, he indicated, is as a result of better shipping logistics.
“Less than 1% of our GDP comes from agriculture, and there, we learn that food security must become a priority to ease our dependence on major industrial trade partners,” he expressed.
“We import 90 per cent of our food at a cost of over US$1 billion every year.”
“We buy US$650 million of food from Florida mainly as a result of our proximity but I acknowledged that there is logistical challenge…today, I throw out a challenge to my colleagues at CARICOM that we must develop a strategic plan to target these logistical transport and connectivity issues this will be good for trade, but it will also be good for the connectivity of our Caribbean family.”
This event being hosted by Guyana is part of President Dr Irfaan Ali’s drive to push regional agriculture and food stability.
Also in attendance are Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley; Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Motley; and Deputy Prime Minister of Bahamas, Chester Cooper.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne; Prime Minister of Belize, Johnny Briceno; and Dominica’s Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit as well as Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Philip Pierre attended and participated in the event.
The event is being hosted under the theme, “Investing in Vision 25 by 2025.”
