Jamaica to host Caribbean Plant Health Directors Forum

Jamaica will host the 11th Annual Caribbean Plant Health Directors (CPHD) Forum and the 6th Meeting of the CARICOM Plant Health Directors at the Iberostar Hotel & Suites in Montego Bay, St. James, July 16-19.

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon Audley Shaw, will be the main presenter at the opening ceremony of the forum on July 16 under the theme ‘Safeguarding Plant Health, Protecting the Environment’.

The forum, which is being held in Jamaica for the first time, will have participants from over 26 member countries in attendance.

Through this forum, regional plant health directors will share effective approaches to combat new pests outbreak and other challenges in plant health in order to safeguard the region’s food security and food safety.

Additionally, the forum will facilitate an integrated approach towards developing sustainable plant and agriculture health management systems in the region as well as provide an overview of phytosanitary principles for plant health directors and managers from the Caribbean. These phytosanitary principles will better enable countries to safeguard against invasive species from a regulatory standpoint while competing in the international marketplace.

A key objective of the forum is to provide technical advice, based on the recommendations of plant health directors, to the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) (Agriculture) for consideration as part of the CARICOM Community Policy, Plant Health Programmes and Projects.

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