MrBharath spoke at the opening of the first Calidena workshop, which was hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards, the Caricom Regional Organisation for standards and Quality and the German National Metrology Institute (PTB) at the Kapok Hotel, St Clair, reports the Trinidad Express.

Mr Bharath said, “The poultry industry in Trinidad and Tobago is a highly sophisticated, mature industry with a significant amount of investment on the ground. They have continued to increase the use of technology.

They have also continued to employ large amounts of people and, if my memory serves me right, I think the poultry industry in Trinidad and Tobago contributes to 60 per cent of the agriculture GDP.

“It is a significant industry we need to continue to develop, we need to make more competitive, so that they are in a position where they can ward off competition and continue to increase market share.”

Mr Bharath said poultry is consumed in T&T more than any other meat and constitutes the largest part of the protein diet locally. “Word has it that we are probably in the top five of chicken consumption per capita in the world, so that is not something to be sneezed at.

“In 2011, the Ministry of Legal Affairs appointed a poultry industry standing committee and it is my hope that the stakeholders and regulators are able to move from words of intent to action because, as I said, the opportunities are boundless and endless as far as this industry is concerned,” he pointed out.

He said a key component of maximising the country’s potential as an investor-friendly economy is the ability to create quality products here, added the report.

“To be able to remain competitive, we have got to understand that undeniably that quality is at the heart of it all. Quality is now seen as a given in any product we wish to market and to sell and continue to stay in business on a sustainable basis.”

Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke, an economist and the PTB consultant and facilitator of the Calidena workshop, said the PTB, which is the guardian of quality of products made in Germany, is a key component of the success of the German economy.