Chatham-Kent signs agriculture agreement with Peru

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Mayor Randy Hope with delegates from Peru (Submitted photo)

Chatham-Kent and Peruvian officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate over the next five years to open new markets, develop product processing and global distribution for both C-K and Peruvian agricultural products.

The agreement was reached in principal during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)’s CEO Summit in Peru last week and finalized Monday afternoon.

Mayor Randy Hope and Michael Burton, director of investment attraction and government relations, attended the meeting last week where the municipality’s CK RAFTS (Rural, Agricultural Food, and Technology Systems) program attracted attention.

“We developed the “RAFTS” project as a way to address agricultural issues ranging from processing, storage and aggregation, distribution and logistics and innovation,” he said. “It’s part of our entire food hub system.”

Hope said he conducted fruitful discussions with a number of senior Peruvian officials including those involved in the Association of Exporters (ADEX) the Peruvian agency charged with promoting agricultural and food exports which also provides services to its one thousand members: exporters, importers and service providers to trade.

“We discussed areas worth exploring in food technology and crop diversification,” he said. “Since our growing seasons are the opposite of each other, we discussed using that factor as a beginning point to explore collaboration in terms of sending some products back and forth.”

Hope said he believes the memorandum of agreement should spur the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to add its support to the RAFTS program.

“We’ve been pushing the food-hub idea for a number of years and we haven’t received more than polite interest but no action,” he said. “The private sector in Peru jumped at the opportunity to be involved in this project and we invite the province’s participation.”

Hope said he was pleasantly surprised at the level of interest in Chatham-Kent agricultural products and the level of interest in setting up a vehicle for collaboration. The opportunity to meet face to face with these companies provided an opportunity to make meaningful progress in a very short time-frame.

“It is amazing how much ground you can cover during a three hour conversation with a group,” he said. “It’s a much more effective way of getting the ball rolling than sending emails back and forth to people you’ve never met.”

Delegates from 21 countries gathered in Lima to speak on a wide variety of trade issues.

Chatham-Kent officials were accompanied on the trip by a local businessman and were there as part of the Canadian delegation headed by Prime Minister Trudeau and senior members of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).


– Submitted photo

1 COMMENT

  1. So correct me if I’m wrong….they signed an agreement to talk for five years about a possible plan?? Does this sound like a leap at validation for another trip wasting tax payers dollars? Or an empty excuse to go to Peru for five years instead of China? Sorry for the lack of faith……

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