At the XXIX Latindex Technical Meeting hosted by the "Francisco José de Caldas" District University, the International System for Agricultural Science and Technology (AGRIS) and AGROVOC, initiatives supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, highlighted their progress in Central America and the Caribbean.

Ruth Velia Gómez, an information specialist, discussed the achievements and challenges of AGRIS and AGROVOC. She mentioned several activities that have boosted their presence in the region. These activities included online and in-person meetings to promote AGRIS in countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and Cuba. Additionally, two seminars on AGROVOC attracted more than 250 participants.

One significant achievement was the increased promotion of these platforms in the region. This was supported by establishing connections with FAO's regional offices in Central America and Cuba. It also led to the inclusion of new data providers from Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama into AGRIS during 2023.

Gómez concluded by outlining upcoming challenges. These include strengthening the AGRIS network in the region, expanding the use of AGROVOC in Spanish among libraries, publishers, and researchers, and extending regional networking.

The active participation of AGRIS and AGROVOC in Latindex 2023 underlines FAO's commitment, along with these platforms, to enhance inter-institutional collaboration and increase the visibility of technical and scientific output in the region.

About AGRIS and AGROVOC

AGRIS (International System for Agricultural Science and Technology) is a comprehensive system designed to enhance the accessibility of scientific and technical outputs in the field of agriculture. It functions as a global network and repository, housing millions of meticulously structured records in multiple languages.

AGROVOC, an integral semantic tool intricately interwoven with AGRIS, constitutes a controlled vocabulary meticulously fashioned to facilitate the indexing of agricultural publications. AGROVOC empowers multilingual search capabilities, data standardization, and improvements in the retrieval of information within the agricultural domain.