[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_preview”,”fid”:”3950″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”180″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em; float: right;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”180″}}]]Register today to hear Erich Kuss, agricultural counselor for the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), welcome U.S. Grains Council (USGC) delegates at its upcoming 12th International Marketing Conference and 55th Annual Membership Meeting. The biannual meeting is scheduled for Feb. 9 to 11, 2015, in Heredia, Costa Rica, a suburb of San Jose.
U.S. exports of food and agricultural products to Costa Rica totaled $482 million in 2013, according to USDA. Kuss will be able to give attendees a first-hand look into the agricultural sector in Costa Rica and the U.S. trade presence there.
“Costa Rica is a small but strategically-located trading partner,” said Ron Gray, USGC chairman and Illinois farmer. “Kuss will give us his insight into our nation’s role in trade with this country. I personally am looking forward to his discussion of both the challenges and opportunities that he sees in this trade partnership.”
Kuss serves as the lead representative for USDA with coverage of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. He joined USDA in 1999 and most recently served as the director of the U.S. Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) in Hong Kong from August 2010 until July 2014. Prior to that assignment, he had also served as the senior agricultural attaché in the Office of Agricultural Affairs in Mexico City, and as the agricultural attaché in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
As a reminder, attendees of the Costa Rica meeting you must have an up-to-date passport. The Council advises to start the process of renewing documents now if existing passports expire before August 2015. Please visit the State Department website, http://www.state.gov for information on obtaining or renewing a passport.
More about the meeting is available online at www.grains.org or on social media using the hashtag #grains15.