The 5th Summit of the Americas successfully concluded in Port of Spain, Trinidad on April 17th, with the leaders of the Americas agreeing to move forward towards change and a new, brighter future for the people of the Americas.

The deliberations and agreements of the 5th Summit of the Americas provide a strong mandate for the Fifth Hemispheric Ministerial Meeting of Agriculture and Rural Life in the Americas – which will take place in Montego Bay, Jamaica in October 2009.

That meeting is the most important fora for agriculture and rural life in the hemisphere, will carry forward the agreements reached in Port of Spain at the 5th Summit, particularly as they relate to enhancing food security, under the theme “Building Capacity for Enhancing Food Security and Rural Life in the Americas”.

The role of IICA in the process of the Summit of the Americas remains clear, as a commitment to working with the leaders in the hemisphere to reposition agriculture and rural life in the development agendas of the member states.

The Institute’s position on its role in and presence at the Summit was clearly presented in a statement by the IICA’s Director General Chelston W.D. Brathwaite, to the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago published in the press. The statement reinforced the importance of a new holistic approach to agriculture and rural development and again stressed the contribution of the rural economy to integral development, based on its wider contribution to energy supply, nutritious food, the reduction of climate change, employment and the reduction of poverty.

Three paragraphs of the Declaration are related to the food and agriculture sector.

Paragraph 23 states:
Providing our people with adequate and timely access to safe and nutritious food is among the most immediate challenges confronting our Hemisphere and the world. We recognise the negative impact on our people of food crises when they occur, and commit to taking urgent and coordinated action, working in partnership with the relevant international and regional organisations, as appropriate, to develop and implement comprehensive policies and programmes in order to confront the challenges of food security. We reaffirm our commitment to the objective of the Millennium Declaration to halve by 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger; and we recognise United Nations General Assembly Resolution 63/235, which calls for addressing these challenges.

Paragraph 24 indicates:
We call on our Agriculture Ministers to develop activities aimed at addressing issues affecting access to and availability of food in order to combat chronic malnutrition and to promote adequate nutritional policies for our populations. We support the promotion of investment in agriculture, as well as the strengthening of our States’ institutional capacity, with a view to increasing and intensifying productive activities, particularly in the countries most affected by hunger.

Paragraph 25 expresses:
We believe that a multidimensional and multisectoral approach to agriculture and rural life is a key factor for sustainable development and food security. In this context and within the framework of the Agro Plan 2003–2015 of the Fourth Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Rural Life in the Americas held in Guatemala in 2007, we support the efforts in the repositioning of agriculture and rural issues and priorities in our national strategies and we commit to strengthening national, sub-regional, regional and hemispheric approaches and strategic actions, as applicable, with the support of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and other relevant organisations.

The Summit also provided a space for Brathwaite to meet with the other heads of the Joint Summit Working Group institutions and together, on Sunday 19th, in a closed meeting with Senator Hillary Rodham-Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, as well as with other distinguished personalities from the hemisphere.

In other events,Chris Hansen, Deputy Director General of the Institute made a presentation to the Private Sector Forum and Melania Portilla, Rural Development Specialist Made a presentation to the Civil Society Forum.

IICA also took the opportunity to distribute to all delegations, members of the JSWG and the international press, a package of information containing copies of the document on IICA’s contribution to the Summit of the Americas Process 2002-2009; the newsletter highlighting agriculture as an engine of growth in the hemisphere and the document “On the Road to Jamaica 2009”, providing general information on the upcoming Ministerial meeting, its theme and goals and theme.

The Director General of IICA, Chelston W.D. Brathwaite, led the delegation from the Institute at the 5th Summit of the Americas. He was accompanied by IICA’s Director of the Office for Follow-up of the Summit of the Americas Process, Bernardo Badani; Director of Operations and Integration for the Caribbean, Trevor Murray and IICA Representative in Trinidad and Tobago, Gregg C.E. Rawlins.