Second EU-Caribbean Global Gateway Sargassum conference for Grenada

In excess of 250 persons drawn from governments, financial institutions, and the scientific community, among others, will gather in Grenada on October 1-2 for the second EU-Caribbean Global Gateway Conference on Sargassum.

Outlining the reason behind the forum in a media advisory, the OECS Secretariat said .”Since 2011, countries within the wider Caribbean Basin have wrestled with the growing inundations of sargassum on their coasts. This phenomenon has a substantial economic impact in sectors like tourism and fisheries and poses public health risks”.

This event is intended to drive dialogue, action and investment in Sargassum valorisation and the development of value chains at scale to meet the magnitude of the challenge, the media advisory adds.

“The conference will generate a comprehensive conversation to understand the building blocks of a sustainable value chain: Research & Innovation, Enabling Environment, and Transformation. It will explore the latest on research, monitoring and forecasting, prevention and containment, collection and harvesting, treatment, valorization and/or use, and disposal of sargassum biomass.”

The meeting will bring together Ministers and public authorities from Caribbean and Latin American countries and European Overseas Countries and Territories and Outermost Regions, as well as the private sector financing institutions, the scientific community, and non-governmental organizations. It will connect the different actors to identify opportunities for investments and partnerships to support public initiatives and commercial operations targeting the different stages of a Sargassum value chain, the advisory explains further.

The conference, to be held at the Radisson Grenada Beach Resort, is an initiative under Global Gateway, the European Union’s strategy to boost investments that generate smart, clean and secure value chains across the world. The theme is: ‘Turning the Tide: Sustainable Practices and Economic Opportunities for Sargassum in the Caribbean Basin’.

Among officials attending will be Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell and other ministers of the Government of Grenada; Director, European Commission, Directorate-General for International Partnerships, Felix Shaw; and Dr. Didacus Jules, Director General, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).