BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Caribbean Community (Caricom) agriculture officials will join their counterparts from Latin America in Brazil next month to discuss the development of the agricultural sector in the hemisphere.

The September 2-3 host of the Inter-American Meeting on Agricultural Health and Food Safety National Services in the Face of Challenges Posed by International Trade, will be attended by officials from 36 countries.

A statement from the organisers said that the recommendations will form part of a report that will be presented at the meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2015, to be held in Mexico, October 19-23.

Promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA) of Brazil and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the event seeks to foster the exchange of knowledge to help with decision-making on ways to face the risks posed by the growing process of globalization to the sanitary status of global agricultural trade.

Directors of official agricultural protection services in the Americas, international organisations, leaders of regional programs and projects, and multilateral organizations will be participating in the meeting.

The meeting in Brazil will facilitate discussions and the sharing of experiences to contribute to harmonizing sanitary and phytosanitary measures as well as strengthening the technical capacities of the countries to comply with the international standards established by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Codex Alimentarius.