Trinidad and Tobago PM Rowley to visit Guyana in May

Trinidad and Tobago: Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is scheduled to pay a visit to Guyana in May to attend the upcoming regional Agriculture Forum. This forum is a part of the plan of Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali to assist the growth of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

PM Rowley’s Guyana visit was confirmed by the Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and CARICOM Affairs, Dr Amery Browne, on April 21, 2022 (Thursday). Browne stated that the Prime Minister would attend the Agriculture Investment Forum and Expo, which would take place from May 19 to May 21.

Dr Browne informed, “Trinidad and Tobago is fully committed to the objective of improved regional food security; we appreciate President Ali’s lead role and vision for the sector.”

This upcoming visit would be PM Rowley’s first-ever visit to Guyana after Dr Irfaan Ali was sworn in as President of the region. Besides the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, three other CARICOM Government Heads have hinted their intentions to visit Guyana in May, to attend this forum.

These leaders include – the current Chairman of CARICOM – John Antonio Briceño of Belize, Barbados Prime Minister – Mia Amor Mottley, and Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines – Dr Ralph Gonsalves.

The event would focus on keeping the CARICOM’s decision to reduce the region’s food import bill by around 25 percent by 2025. The aim of this regional event would be promotion as well as improvement of the resilience and productivity of the agricultural food system in the region. This is a proposal which was made to cut the cost of imports by increasing the regional food production by President Ali, during the recent 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Belize.