With the aim of establishing strategies and joint response actions to guarantee the food of the people against the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the agri-food sector, this Thursday, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela participated in the Meeting of High Authorities of the area of Agriculture of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP).
During his participation in the meeting, the People’s Power Minister for Productive Agriculture and Lands, Wilmar Castro Soteldo, expressed the need to create methodologies that allow improving issues related to river, maritime and air transport, new financial elements and facilitate the exchange of inputs and agro-inputs among the member countries of the regional body, ensuring that “the ALBA-TCP does have a structure to deal with critical cases that affect the community.”
“The issue of connectivity between our countries is a fundamental element to be able to move forward in a much more decisive way, and that connectivity can be through multimodal transport, through air transportation and through maritime transportation, where not only products, goods and services linked to our area of influence can transit, but also people, cargo and courier that is vital for the development and for the solution of our activity”, he explained.
Minister Castro Soteldo praised the actions in food matters carried out by the Bolivarian Government to face the global health crisis and the economic blockade promoted by the United States and its allies against the South American country.
He made available to the ALBA-TCP countries the successful experiences of Venezuela so they can be applied to the peoples of the region and also highlighted “the provision for all the peoples of the Caribbean and Central America” of the Venezuelan land surface. “Two million hectares that we have available to develop livestock and vegetable agriculture at your command to consolidate alliances for food production” he added.
Sovereign and independent economy
For his part, the executive secretary of ALBA-TCP, Sacha Llorenti, urged the Ministers of Agriculture of the member countries to build a complementary, supportive, productive, self-managed, sovereign and independent economy.
He affirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic has left large holes in sectors such as international tourism, being an important engine for the economy of most of the countries that make up the regional body, while indicating that the panorama of the pandemic forces the countries that make up this Alliance to carry out a joint task to alleviate this situation.
Secretary Llorenti agreed on the importance of exchanging successful experiences and learning on the issues of family farming and agreements for its mechanization, exchanges on low-cost techniques and technologies to achieve better yields in all soils and crops of each country.
This meeting is held within the framework of what was agreed at the XVIII Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), held on December 14, 2020 virtually, with the participation of the Heads of State and Government of the member countries and other representatives, who agreed to reactivate the Alba Alimentos Program, as part of the 2021 Post-pandemic Work Plan.