...Suriname leader in T&T for Agri-Investment Forum
PARAMARIBO
PRESIDENT Chandrikapersad Santokhi arrived in Trinidad and Tobago yesterday to attend the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Agri-Investment Forum and Expo II that gets under way in Port of Spain tomorrow.
Santokhi, who is also the chairman of the 15-member regional integration grouping, is being accompanied by Agriculture Minister Parmanand Sewdien to the three-day event.
Other Caricom leaders, including Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Guyana's President Irfaan Ali, will be attending the forum and they would be assessing the progress made since they participated in the inaugural Caricom Agri-Investment Forum and Expo held in Guyana in May.
Ali, who has lead responsibility for Agriculture in the Caricom quasi cabinet, would be outlining how the strategy is being implemented during the update.
The meeting in Port of Spain will also provide an opportunity for talks with Republic Bank on a number of proposals that Guyana has worked on with a number of other Caricom countries.
At the Forum, President Santokhi and his delegation want to explore how Suriname can market some of its crops and products to the region.
'These products can be used on a large scale, for the production of edible oil and animal feed, with which the livestock sector – cattle, pigs, poultry and aquaculture – can be developed on a large scale,' said the spokesperson. Both the local and regional market can be supplied.
'At the moment there is high demand for soya and maize and the prices are good,' said Alven Roosveld, the spokesman for the President.
At the Expo, Suriname hopes to interest investors in investing in the Dutch-speaking Caricom country, in partnership with local producers.
The forum and exposition in Trinidad will be held under the theme 'Transforming Agriculture through Innovation and Investment'.
-CMC
