Chairperson,
Collaborative Partners - Food and Agriculture Organisation - Dr. Hesdie Grauwde, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) - Mr. Ignatius Jean, United States Department of Agriculture /Animal and Plant Health International Services (USDA/APHIS) - Dr John Shaw, French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) - Mr. Pierre-Yves Tycheney,
Participants from the non-CARICOM Countries,
Members and Associate Members of CARICOM,

Good morning.

On behalf of the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the CARICOM Secretariat and to this First Meeting of Plant Health Directors of the Caribbean.

I understand that at this Meeting you will be addressing policy and technical issues related to plant health with a view to charting a road map for action, given the current and emerging situations at the international, regional and national levels.

Our Region is faced with the growing challenge of rising food prices which is nearing crisis proportions. The rising cost of living and, moreso, food security is certainly occupying the minds of our Leaders. The solutions to resolving this challenge to our food security are not totally within our control, but we can say with certainty that it must include with expanded food production in each of our countries. We must produce an increasing share of the food we consume and we must ensure that our people have access to the food we produce.

In that context, this Meeting takes on added significance since it is this forum which must assist in finding the solutions to ensuring that the threats to a reduction of our food production and supply and, in particular, a reduction in the yield of plant and plant products, are kept to a minimum or at best prevented from entering our borders and moving freely intra-regionally. At the same time, whatever necessary plant health measures are put in place should also serve to facilitate trade in food products within the Region.

Your challenge therefore is to:

(i) assess the international, regional and national plant health environment;

(ii) strategise on how to minimise the threats posed by thousands of plant pests and diseases which impact on food security;

(iii) make recommendations, among others, for adoption of regional and national policies in coordinating common approaches to manage the existing and emerging threats; and

(iv) consider approaches to facilitating trade while maintaining the integrity of plant health.

In closing, let me express my sincerest thanks to the FAO and IICA for this initiative. You all have been long-standing and solid partners in assisting the developmental work in the Region and I have come somewhat to expect your continued support, because you are part of our team. My sincerest appreciation to CIRAD for its support to the animal and plant health experts in the Region.

I take the opportunity to also welcome the partnership with the USDA/APHIS. We have worked together in the past, but I note that your presence is becoming more visible within the Community. I know that Dr. Shaw and his team are collaborating with us in the animal health arena and you are attempting to bring on board and fund a regional veterinary epidemiology project, and I am happy that you are also in this forum. The Caribbean Community welcomes your technical and financial assistance and I hope that this could be the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with the Community.

So, thank you all and may I wish you success in your deliberations.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org