Guyana’s upper middle income status brings new challenges – says Greenidge

17th Heads of Mission

As the 17th Heads of Mission conference at Pegasus Hotel concluded, the efforts of Guyana’s Foreign Service to advance export and trade on the international market formed an integral part of the discussions.

According to Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, the challenges which Guyana faces within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) framework were a hot topic of discussion. He revealed that Guyana’s change in status from a lower to an upper middle income country has brought with it challenges on the international

frontier.

During a press conference on Friday, both Greenidge and Guyana’s Ambassador to Belgium, David Hales, revealed that there was a fight for countries with improved classifications in economic indexes. They noted that the fight was to retain concessionary terms available in international trade markets.

“We had some examination of the challenges of living within WTO rules, which recognise that we are now a middle income country. And, therefore, we don’t enjoy the privileges of the least developed countries and we, therefore, need to pay more attention to the opportunities available to the different frameworks.”

International markets

According to the Minister, Guyana’s size and ability to compete on the international market with its production were also a consideration. He related that issues associated with expanding and taking advantage of the European Union relationship were discussed.  Guyana has signed an economic partnership agreement with the EU, which will see it accessing more lucrative markets for export.

“So, there was discussion on those challenges: how they might be tackled, what can be done in terms of involving the Private Sector, how can we move from traditional export into these markets, how can we go about dealing with the more knowledge-intensive services, the need to focus on those areas given that our size and given the types of firms we have and can make it a little difficult to sell the traditional things in markets that are highly competitive,’ Minister Greenidge explained.

Individual markets such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Canada were also discussed by the gathering.

The Minister also referenced discussions about the activities of Canadian forms operating in Guyana. Currently, Canadian firm Guyana Goldfields Inc has a large-scale operation in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). It achieved its first gold pour in 2015 and now averaged over 180,000 ounces of gold per year.

Guyana’s re-classification by the World Bank came in July 2016 following the oil discoveries in the Stabroek Block. While it was agreed that the upgrade was a positive indicator, concerns had also been expressed that Guyana would lose some of the concessionary terms and agreements it enjoys internationally.

It is important that Guyana secures markets for its exports. Sugar and rice, two of the country’s greatest foreign currency earners, have fallen on hard times. Guyana’s rice exports have suffered from the loss of a lucrative agreement it had with Venezuela. On the other hand, the EU will be removing the quota system it had for sugar exports from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Both systems had allowed for Guyana to sell its rice and sugar above the normal world market price.