Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, October XX, 2019 (IICA). A delegation from IICA’s Representation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines participated in a study tour to Dominica as part of the Institute technical collaboration support among St. Lucia, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the development of their food certification systems.
The team was able to meet and interact with senior stakeholders in the food system including officials of the Dominica Bureau of Standards, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dominica Export and Import Agency (DEXIA) and the Dominica Hucksters Association.
The delegation also toured Dominica’s new diagnostic facility designed to provide the analytic support to food industry businesses, and the pack house facilities of DEXIA at Roseau and Portsmouth, which provide handle agricultural produce destined for export.
“The study tour was quite fruitful since we were able to learn a lot from our counterparts. It will enable us to further implement aspects of our certifications system”, said Haydeen Charles, of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Bureau of Standards.
The delegation included Rodwell Charles, Agricultural Instructor, Ministry of Agriculture; Haydeen Charles, and Michael Dalton, Technical Specialist from the IICA Delegation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. They gathered information on Dominica’s ongoing investments in the development of its food certification system during the study tour.
Michael Dalton stated that IICA believed that its support to the development of Agricultural Health and Food Safety systems in the Eastern Caribbean States should be consolidated on a multi-country platform. Therefore, the delegations in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Dominica are currently implementing a project to further this collective agenda.
About IICA
IICA is the specialized agency for agriculture in the Inter-American system, with a mission to encourage, promote and support its 34 Member States in their efforts to achieve agricultural development and rural well-being through international technical cooperation of excellence.
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Michael Dalton, IICA’s Technical Specialist at the Delegation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
