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W
e have six partner nations in the
Caribbean, including St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, St.
Kitts and Nevis, the Dominican
Republic, and Haiti. Among the
countries, Haiti has a high proportion
of laboring population in agriculture,
and the remaining nations’ economic
activities are primarily based on
tourism. The overall economy of the
Caribbean region consists of small
island economies that rely on imports
for most of their products. Therefore,
our main strategy for cooperation in
this region is to reduce production
costs and to encourage local
production and consumption.
To lower production costs and
boost local production, we launched
t he Les Cayes Ce rea l Crops
Development Project in Haiti and the
Vegetable, Fruit and Upland Crop
Quality and Safety Improvement
Project in St. Kitts and Nevis.
We believe we can improve our
partner nations’ overall agricultural
production through seed purification,
introduction of higher quality varieties,
and building capacity in disease
prevention of fruits, vegetables and
grain crops, and in pesticide residue
inspection.
Furthermore, in response to the
needs of partner governments to
improve administrative effectiveness,
our priorities in this region include
advancing ICT and its applications in
these countries. For example, in the
ICT Technical Cooperation Project
(St. Vincent and the Grenadines),
we are working on planning and
building the country’s e-government
development strategy, and through
systematic personnel training, we are
helping the country’s ICT technicians
to build the capacity required for the
development.
Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a world heritage site in St. Kitts and Nevis.
The Caribbean