FAO/CARICOM Webinar: COVID-19 and Food Systems
Thursday, 7 May 2020 – 12:00 PM Barbados time (UTC -4)
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread and many Caribbean countries are threatened by potential disruptions in their food systems and agricultural production. The abrupt drop in the tourism activity also threatens to generate a recession, and the arrival of the hurricane season completes a complex scenario for all Caribbean countries.
In this context, recovering and strengthening the region’s agri food systems has become a strategic priority, both for the food and nutritional security of the countries, and as a means to generate new sources of income for the rural sectors.
The FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean has taken the task to coordinate and carry out a series of discussions, through online conferences, focused on the effects of COVID-19 on the agri-food system.
The fifth webinar of the FAO-COVID-19 and Food Systems Series, co-organized with the strategic collaboration of the CARICOM Secretariat, will focus on “Enabling agricultural investment in the Caribbean for an effective response and post-COVID-19 recovery”. The webinar will take place on Thursday, 7 May 2020 at 12:00 P.M., Barbados time, with opening remarks by Julio Berdegué, FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, and by Renata Clarke, FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for the Caribbean (SLC).”
Speakers:
Máximo Torero Cullen
Chief Economist and Assistant Director General of FAO, Economic and Social Department (ES-FAO)
“Coronavirus: The Food Supply Chain Under Pressure What Can We Do?”
Saboto Caesar
Minister of Agriculture, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Chair of CARICOM Agriculture Sector COVID-19 Response Task Force
“CARICOM COVID-19 Food and Security Action Plan Coordination and Implementation”
Joseph Cox
CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration
Blueprint for Transitioning to Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery
Patrick Antoine
Caribbean Private Sector Organization Representative
“Private Sector Leading Growth in the Region in a post COVID-19 world”
Selected experts will pose questions following the presentations:
- Michael Clifton Pintard, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources, The Bahamas
- Jeremy Stephen, Economist
- Lystra Fletcher-Paul, FAO Former Sub-regional Coordinator -SLC
This initiative is part of the agreement made between 11 international organizations in the region to coordinate their actions and provide technical support to governments in order to keep agri-food trade alive, expand social protection systems, reach common sanitary and phytosanitary standards, and increase intraregional trade.
YouTube Live
The meeting will be webcast live on FAO’s website. Journalists can follow the discussion here.
More information about the event is available here.
Key Links
FAO & ECLAC weekly newsletter- Analysis and responses of Latin America and the Caribbean to the effects of COVID-19 on food systems,
Web portal on relevant information worldwide on the pandemic.
