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Veneman to co-host ag conference
DES MOINES (DTN)--Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman will travel to San Jose, Costa Rica, May 10 and 11 to co-host a ministerial conference for the countries of Central America, Mexico and the Dominican Republic on the use of science and technology to improve productivity in the agricultural sector.
"This regional conference follows last June's Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology in Sacramento, Calif. The Costa Rica conference will provide the opportunity for continuing dialogue and knowledge sharing on technologies, policies and partnerships to raise agricultural productivity across the region," said Veneman. "Latin American ministers were among the first at last year's conference to enthusiastically embrace the potential of agricultural science and technology to help boost their agricultural sectors, so it is appropriate that we are holding this follow-up conference in Central America-to invigorate regional mechanisms for technology innovation and economic growth and development."
Some 200 invited participants are expected to attend this event. Attendees include the vice presidents of Nicaragua and El Salvador, and ministers of agriculture and science and technology from the nine member countries of the Regional Council for Agricultural Cooperation (CORECA), which are Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama, and representatives from private industry, academia, research centers, and nongovernmental, regional or international organizations.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of State and the Agency for International Development are co-hosting the event along with Costa Rica's Ministries of Agriculture and Science and Technology and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
Among the many speakers are Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco de La Espriella, Secretary Veneman, U.S. Science Advisor to the Secretary of State George Atkinson, IICA's Director General Chelston Brathwaite, Social Science Division Leader of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center Mauricio Bellon and Pan American College of Agriculture Professor Maria Mercedes Roca.
Issues to be discussed include improving food security by applying agricultural science and technology in an environmentally sustainable way; adopting conventional and state-of-the-art agricultural technologies, including biotechnology, to boost productivity; creating the appropriate policy, institutional and regulatory frameworks to facilitate technology transfer; exploring ways to forge public-private partnerships; and promoting regional systems of cooperation for research and development in agricultural science and technology.
Date: 5/13/04
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