Caribbean leaders must redouble efforts to remove long-standing barriers to the free movement of goods and people if the region is to achieve sustainable and resilient economic growth, Senior Finance Minister Ashni Singh said on Wednesday.
Speaking at an open-floor discussion on food resilience at the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) One Caribbean Ministerial Dialogue, Singh said small economies and climate vulnerability continue to constrain growth prospects across the Caribbean.
He noted that while CARICOM leaders had set a target to cut the region’s food import bill by 25% by 2025 — now extended to 2030 following recent economic shocks — progress has been slowed by persistent structural and regulatory barriers, including sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions that hinder intra-regional trade.
“In each of our respective countries, each of us has been investing in one aspect or another in pursuit of the objective of the realisation of our objectives in relation to food security,” Singh said, pointing to initiatives across the region such as climate-smart agriculture in The Bahamas, support for small farmers in Belize, and investments in cold storage and supply chains in Jamaica.
He said Guyana is prioritising drainage and irrigation systems, transport infrastructure to open new farmland, and farm-to-market roads, alongside expanded agro-processing to move beyond primary exports.
“We are no longer an exporter of primary agricultural produce but are seeking to produce more value-added output,” he said, adding that greater intra-regional trade remains a key untapped opportunity.
Singh cautioned, however, that transport inefficiencies and regulatory constraints continue to impede regional trade flows.
“There are still in some of our jurisdictions some remaining regulations that impede free and easy trade in food products, in agricultural food products, and I think there needs to be a redoubled effort within our region to remove these barriers,” he said.
He stressed that food security is both an economic and social priority for the region, particularly in the face of climate shocks, and praised the IDB’s “One Caribbean” initiative for supporting infrastructure and private sector development.
“Agriculture and agri-business is an important aspect of our productive economy and an important contributor to job creation and the creation, enhancement, and improvement of livelihoods for young people in the region,” Singh said.
