Rowley meets with Guyana's President and PM

THE PRIME Minister arrived in Guyana on Tuesday where he was received at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport by that country's Prime Minister Brigadier (retired) Mark Phillips, along with Guyana's Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat.

Dr Rowley, according to a post on the Office of the Prime Minister's Facebook page, also met with Guyana's President Dr Irfaan Ali who presented him with a steel portrait of his likeness at State House.

The steel portrait or silhouette was done by overseas-based Guyanese artist, Paul Jones.

The PM is leading a delegatioin in Guyana on a five-day visit to attend the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo which will be held from May 19-21 at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.

At the 33rd Inter-Sessional Conference of Heads of Government, Caricom leaders agreed that an Agri- Investment Forum and Expo would be an appropriate platform to address the issue of investment in the regional agriculture sector.

The forum is geared towards the promotion, engagement, and informed dialogue among key stakeholders along the agri-food value chain. It will bring together policymakers, development partners, foreign and local private investors, farmers and distributors to determine how investment can be encouraged so as to reduce the food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.

Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dr Amery Browne, Minister of Agriculture Kazim Hosein and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture Avinash Singh are accompanying Rowley on this trip.

Minister of Finance Colm Imbert is acting as Prime Minister until Rowley's return.

Last Saturday, Planning Minister Pennelope Beckles and Minister of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings met about 60 farmers from Wallerfield to hear their grievances about their lack of land leases. Beckles is Arima MP and Cummings represents La Horquetta/Talparo. A Sunday Newsday story, Fed-up farmers of Wallerfield, Turure appeal for ‘leases to survive,’ reported the lament of long-standing farmers whose lease applications were tied up in red tape, thereby denying them the chance to access a raft of loans and government assistance.

These farmers variously reared cows, pigs and ducks, among other livestock.