| Santiago de Chile, 14 March 2022 (IICA) – Chile’s new Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, and the Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Manuel Otero, held a meeting in Santiago, hours before the swearing-in ceremony of President Gabriel Boric. The two officials discussed their respective work agendas and exchanged information about the challenges in the agriculture sector. In the discussion, Valenzuela highlighted the key elements that would guide his efforts to develop a culture in which rurality and agriculture in Chile are held in high regard. The new minister insisted that, “We want to work towards a green, responsible, sustainable and inclusive agriculture sector, leaving no family behind. It must be one that shares knowledge to enable greater efficiency, traceability, integration and plurinationalism, while valuing the culture of our indigenous people as a matter of priority”. The IICA Director General invited the new Chilean government to avail itself of a vast range of technical cooperation opportunities at the local and hemispheric levels. He remarked that, “We are asking farmers and persons linked to the agrifood world in Chile to work even more closely with the IICA of open doors, to explore opportunities and a wide range of cooperation options, ever mindful of technology and more sustainable agricultural best practices. Otero also revealed that valuing the work of women and youth is critical to IICA and emphasized their fundamental role in agriculture in the Americas. The Director General placed IICA’s hemispheric cooperation actions and experiences at the disposal of the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture. Through these initiatives, the Institute is promoting and supporting transparency in international trade and sustainability, in partnership with high-level experts, such as Ohio State University academic and 2020 World Food Prize laureate, Rattan Lal, and 2019 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, Michael Kremer. At the end of the meeting, which he described as “productive and fruitful”, Valenzuela indicated that, “Inter-American cooperation is critical during complex times like these, given issues surrounding inputs, fertilizers, and the ensuing food price increases. Thus, we must maximize our collaboration with institutions such as IICA, which we appreciate and value”. Minister Valenzuela, a native of Rancagua, was born in 1964. He is a journalist and politician, with a doctorate in Contemporary History, and served as a Deputy in the Chilean Parliament for two consecutive terms and as mayor of Rancagua between 1992 and 1996. |
| About IICAIICA 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. |
