By: Kimberly Ramkhalawan
August 19, 2022
Second leg of agri-investment expo brings trade talks between Guyana and T&T
Following up on their Memorandum of Understanding signed in Georgetown, Guyana back in May, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley welcomed Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali this week to discuss their trade agreement, even as the second leg of the Agri-Investment Expo opens to the public in Port of Spain this week.
Guyana’s President is currently the co-chair for Agriculture at the CARICOM level, while the Agriculture forum seeks to “stimulate conversations among key stakeholders, such as policymakers, potential foreign and local investors, farmers, distributors, to amplify investments and achieve the vision of reducing the food import bill by 25 percent by 2025”.
Speaking at a joint press conference held at the Diplomatic Centre following their discussions on trade, both leaders shared details on talks surrounding how the reduction of the non-tariff barriers through the CSME would work. And according to Dr Rowley, both parties have agreed that goods when arrive at individual ports, a decision is made whether the arrivals can enter the country or not at these particular ports. He notes that CARICOM meets quarterly for issues of trade, providing for when there might be some “sticky issues that require some intervention”, however, as for the average day, the decisions are often made at the local port of entry, where the non-tariff barriers come into play. Citing that this often differs at each port, it is something they are working on eradicating, as it works against what the Caribbean Single Market Economy is all about.
Dr Rowley indicated that strides are being made in recognizing registration of businesses in one CARICOM state, as having been also registered in all of the member states, under one regional registry, where laws have been changed to allow one Caricom registry if it is to make the CSME a true reality.
However, Dr Ali says a taskforce will be set up to look specifically at the issues that affect trade between Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, including what can be done to allow the efficient movement of goods from the two countries, and resolve these issues in a sustainable way.
He adds that a similar approach has been taken between Guyana and Barbados, and once successful, it will assist in making the ‘typical longer meetings, shorter’, as it removes ‘block by block’, issues such as logistics in transporting goods, which would ensure the barriers are removed. Dr Ali notes this intends to go a step further by linking the supply chain to the production chain, and “it’s a matter of ensuring that there is an arrangement at every port to support that production, with tax systems in place that remain coherent backing the mechanism”. And while he admits this is not the conversation they are not having, it is the place it will eventually evolve into, but to delve into the ‘policy orientation’ which will support what they endeavour to develop regionally.
Alluding to aspersions that there was a number of large distributors in the region that feel threatened, Dr Ali said the latest move should be viewed as a major opportunity to reverse a number of things in the region to benefit through the production process. He adds that instead of importing from Miami, produce can instead be pushed upwards in the region, and begged the question of “who are the region’s strategic partners, all over the world today, and who countries were positioning themselves with in the bid against scarcities. The Guyanese President added that the region had “not leveraged it proximity of Guyana with Northern Brazil and the potential that exists there. He says they are now setting the framework with whom it will benefit of businesses, distribution channels, people and diaspora of the region.
Dr Ali shared it was quite possible and the public “will be shocked to see the level of work and planning that have already taken place”. To this, Dr Rowley interjected saying “I think the word you’re looking for is significant. As we can significantly impact our supply chain, but our affordability but our costs”.
Underscoring the proof of its expectancy, Dr Ali says the commitment of a group of countries setting targets like these, says something that will be demonstrated as there are plans to unveil the workings of it at the part two edition of the agri expo.
Meanwhile, fielding questions on the number of TT Businesses already in the Guyanese market, Dr Ali shared that he did not wish to quantify any investors from a single country, as he sees investors from every country as equal as within Guyana. He says “If we look from a regional perspective, most of the investors from the region are from Trinidad and Tobago, including the construction, and oil and gas sector. There is active participation from investors in Guyana’s economy that hail from T&T”, and he wants a win-win scenario for both nations, and despite a significant amount of investment from Trinidad and Tobago, he says it should not be an issue.
As to questions around Guyana’s ease of doing business, he says depends on the perspective of what purpose you are looking at setting up shop. He admits they are trying to work on a system he describes as archaic and notes that he cannot continue to build a modern and efficient country going through those layers, but is now working on a single window system.
Prime Minister Dr Rowley shared the pandemic and Russian Ukraine war has showed there was a “fierce urgency to get things done now, as we do not have time”. He added that “leadership of our countries need to do what has to be done, disrupting the current comfort zones of models of reliance on imported foods and emphasizing to our populations that our meals must be now based on eating what we can produce and growing what we eat, that the is the model we have to follow”.
Echoing a similar sentiment, Dr Ali added that “unless we are ready to make hard decisions, to confront the challenges in this global environment and to build and create systems, toward a sustainable environment, we will not be able to leave a future for our next generations”. He shared that regional leaders have committed and positioned themselves to a series of action that will allow them to represent and bring about changes as leaders in these issues.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ali described the visit as a chance “to create a ‘win-win’ environment for participating partners in the development and advancement of both countries.”
The Guyanese leader’s visit to Trinidad and Tobago runs until Sunday 21, as they also engage with Suriname leaders on the energy front.