Nassau, The Bahamas: Brazil  Ambassador to The Bahamas, His Excellency  Claudio Raja Gabaglia Lins, Ambassador-designate of the Federative Republic of Brazil to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, paid a courtesy call on Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources, Hon. Michael Pintard on Wednesday, 19^th May, 2021.

During the meeting, Ambassador Lins expressed the view that there is broad potential for cooperation between Brazil and The Bahamas on agricultural matters such as ICT and technical assistance in the production of poultry, beef, pork; sheep, school feeding programme, aquaculture, hydroponics  and other agricultural initiatives. He noted that The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the Federative Republic of Brazil established diplomatic relations on 7^th September 1978, and have been represented in The Bahamas from 2011.

He  noted that Brazil, The “Instituto Rio Branco” through Brazilian  Agricultural  Research Technical and Agricultural Corporation  (BATAC), can collaborate with  The Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI)  and the Gladstone Road Agricultural Centre (GRAC).

Minister Pintard advised that The Bahamas had past bilateral discussions with Brazil in July 2019 at an IICA Executive Meeting where support was requested in the following areas:

• Production and value added of  soybeans, soybean meal and soybean oil
• Importation of Brazilian beef, broiler meat and pork
• Collaboration on resource saving technology, bio fuel technology and ICT’s  in Bahamian Agriculture
• Capacity building in extension services – training precision agriculture – Taranis (drones for pest management)
• Partnerships with EMBRAPA  developing new soil conditioning techniques
• Solar powered agricultural technology
• Mobile slaughterhouses/technical assistance in meat processing
• Development of Public Private Partnerships and technical assistance particularly in value added production by identifying processing plant prototypes conducive to the climate in The Bahamas.

Ambassador Lins, intimated that “Brazil is excited about the potential for cooperation” on a broad range of matters and expressed their willingness to share knowledge and expertise in agriculture and fisheries with countries like The Bahamas. Minister Pintard thanked Ambassador Lins for Brazil’s interest and expressed optimism with respect to working on agricultural and fishing initiatives considering that Brazil is one of the leading countries in the world in soybean, value added agriculture products, agriculture and agriculture technology.

Both sides shared respect and realized the potential that such collaboration holds for both nations. Gifts were exchanged as a symbol of this cooperation.