Ministries sign MoU on agri-tourism policy
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which seeks to further develop the agri-tourism policy in Guyana.
According to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture, during the signing ceremony, Mustapha said that the MoU establishes a shared ambition between the two ministries.
“This MoU stemmed from a recommendation that was made during last year’s Agri-Tourism Week. It establishes a shared ambition between our two Ministries to collaborate, coordinate and implement the development of the Agri-Tourism Policy and roadmap, thereby creating an enabling environment for our agri-tourism operators,” Mustapha said.
Walrond said: “The agriculture and tourism sectors are of strategic importance to Guyana’s development. Managed sustainably, both our agriculture and tourism products can be with us long after the last barrel of oil is extracted. It is, therefore, incumbent on us today to use the opportunity provided by the petroleum bounty to build the foundation of a diversified economy that will persist when that bounty at whatever time must be inevitably be exhausted”.
Country Representative for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Wilmot Garnett said that in order for the agri-tourism sector to move forward, partnerships and alliances must be constructed at both the public and private sector levels.