(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will convene a Donor Conference in Trinidad and Tobago on June 2, 2007 to supplement the Region’s ongoing financial and technical support for the expansion and diversification of the Region’s agricultural sector.

The Agriculture Donor Conference evolved from a mandate from the Eighteenth Inter-Sessional Heads of Government summit held in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines in February 2007.

The Donor Conference, spearheaded by President of Guyana, His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo, will seek to mobilize additional resources to address the challenges of the Regional agricultural sector. Those challenges include:

• inadequate infrastructural development;
• technology transfer;
• food security; and
• an overarching need for increased investment in the sector to enable its expansion and diversification towards sustainability and international competitiveness

Bilateral, multilateral, and regional donors and other partners have been invited to participate in the conference.

President Jagdeo, who also holds the portfolio of lead Head of State responsibility for agriculture, will give the feature address at the forum.

The Conference will be held at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel.