18th Annual General Meeting- Haiti

The Caribbean Millers’ Association (CMA) hosted its 18th Annual General Meeting at the Karibe Hotel in Haiti from December 2-3, 2014 under the theme “Keeping Flour Affordable”.

The CMA comprises Flour Milling and allied industries in the Caribbean region and Central America and saw delegates from Barbados, Belize, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago. There was also involvement of Associate members from the USA, Canada, Germany, Italy, Latin America and France.
The Caribbean Millers’ Association was incorporated on November 5, 1996, and comprises flour mills from the Caribbean & Central America. The first Annual General Meeting was held in Bridgetown Barbados on November 8, 1996.
The aims of the Association are:
• To protect the Flour Milling Industry from unfair competition;
• To develop and exchange problem solving ideas across the region and
• To present a regular lobbying position for negotiation with governmental agencies.

The current President of the CMA is Karlene Nicholls, Commercial Manager of ADM Barbados Mills. Other members of the executive are 1st Vice President Ronnie Mohammed of Nutrimix Flour Mills, 2nd Vice President Mitchell Skalicky of US Wheat Associates and Secretary/ Treasurer Derrick Nembhard of ADM Jamaica Flour Mills. The CMA Secretariat is located in Kingston Jamaica.

Hosts of the conference this year were Les Moulins d’Haiti and Les Cereales d’Haiti. The meeting was also sponsored by ADM Jamaica Flour Mills, AgriChem, Buhler Inc., Cargill, GAP SA Grains & Produits, Kansas City Bag Company, Manyan Inc., Muehlenchemie, National Milling Company of Guyana (Namilco), Polypro Solutions and US Wheat Associates. The conference saw over 50 delegates attending. It began with an opening ceremony on Tuesday, December 2, where the Prime Minister of Haiti, Laurent Lamothe, gave the feature address.
Throughout the conference there were speakers from Buhler, GAP SA Grains & Produits, Ocrim, Engrain, US Wheat Associates, Muehlenchemie, Chopin Technologies, Haiti Broilers and University of Notre Dame.

In picture (L-R) are Bert Sukhai (Immediate Past President), Ronnie Mohammed (1st VP), Karlene Nicholls (President), Mitchell Skalicky (2nd VP) and Derrick Nembhard (Secretary/Treasurer)