What seems set to be the most significant virtual communication forum undertaken by any local state or non–state agency up to this time, against the backdrop of the strictures to face-to-face communication imposed by the still rampaging coronavirus, will take place on Wednesday September 23rd to enable an incisive probe into issues relating to the post-Covid-19 fortunes of Guyana’s vital agriculture and agro-processing sectors.
The three-hour Webinar, organized over several weeks by the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) in collaboration with the local office of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will seek to probe possibilities for strengthening the value chain and expanding agriculture and agro-processing and agriculture in a post-Covid-19 local environment.
The event, which will attract significant local and international participation will, the organizers say, feature a collection of participants ranging from government and private sector officials and local farmers and agro-processors to international experts and representatives of the diaspora.
Under the theme “opportunities for strengthening the value chain and expanding agriculture in a post-COVID environment” the webinar, Stabroek Business has been informed, is being convened primarily to provide an opportunity for stakeholders in the agriculture value chain to share perspectives on key issues, challenges and opportunities and to identify critical actions for growth and development in a post COVID 19 environment.
A novel aspect of this high-level forum is the opportunity which it offers farmers and agro processors to make direct inputs in a process which seeks to undertake a re-examination of key sectors of the country’s economy.
Wednesday’s webinar will follow a discourse trajectory guided largely by three keynote addresses to be delivered by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, GMSA President Shyam Nokta and local IDB Country Representative Sophie Makonnen.
The Stabroek Business has benefitted from briefings on the event by the GMSA President who says that he believes that a key segment of the three-hour interface will be the session that will focus on the opportunities, challenges, solutions and best practices in and for Guyana’s agribusiness sector and what may well be the novel experience of having several presenters not only addressing the forum by shaping their presentations in the context of their own practical experiences.
Much of the preparatory work for the forum is being undertaken by the Secretariat of the GMSA which, earlier this week told the Stabroek Business that international participation in the event is expected to come from the United Guyana Diaspora Global Network (UGDGN) which will address the diaspora’s involvement in Guyana’s agribusiness sector and the Economic Transformation Group, a New York-based sustainable economic development consultancy.
