The Argentine government through the Argentine Fund for South-South and Triangular Cooperation with the collaboration of the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in Barbados, in efforts to strengthen ties with the Caribbean region, on Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th April held a Cooperation Workshop in the island of Barbados.
The objective of the workshop was to connect Argentine experts to their St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago’s counterparts, with the aim of identifying potential projects of cooperation in the areas of agricultural business, Spanish teaching and small and medium sized enterprises development, that are of significance for the development of countries in the region.
Its purpose was to build capacity through the exchange of knowledge, technologies and best practices, as well as create instruments that enable more dynamic development processes by means of technical assistance provided in the context of international cooperation projects.
A total of 37 officials from the 9 regional countries were hosted in the Cooperation Workshop as well as representatives from IICA, OAS, FAO, CARDI, USAID, Inter-American Caribbean Development Bank, UWI and the Caribbean Development Bank.
The workshop also allowed participants from Caribbean countries and Argentina to come together, not to discuss a “one size fits all” approach, but to explore ideas and visions that can be implemented in their respective country contexts.
As a result of the two-day meeting various projects of possible cooperation were planted with the hopes of their execution within the region:
- Teaching of Spanish: technical assistance for teachers and lecturers - cooperation in the field of curriculum and pedagogy
- Agro-industry: maintenance and conservation of land and water resources - phytosanitary measures
- SMEs: strengthening the development of clusters - strengthening of business incubators - training for entrepreneurs, mentors and public officials in charge of developing policies for SMEs
