New Guyana-T&T trade pact targets longstanding export hurdles

…agreement targets market access barriers affecting Guyanese exports

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce (TTCIC) will be working to address the non-tariff barriers affecting the export of Guyana’s products into the Twin-Island Republic, a longstanding issue that Guyanese businesses have been complaining bitterly about.

This collaboration for the advancement of bilateral trade between the two countries was cemented in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the GCCI President, Kathy Smith, and the President of the T&T Chamber, Karen Yip Chuck, on Wednesday in Georgetown.
According to the GCCI President, “This Memorandum of Understanding is geared towards addressing key issues affecting trade between Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana – particularly non-tariff barriers. We will work towards actively identifying and resolving barriers to market access and other challenges and cooperatively address these for mutual benefit.”
Through this MoU, the two Chambers will be working collaboratively on projects to enhance economic and social opportunities for their respective members and the business communities in the two countries, including sharing research and information on areas that have great potential for development as well as advocacy among regulatory agencies and key stakeholders.
This move comes in light of the glaring disparities in the trade between the two Caribbean countries over the past 25 years.

Restrictions in T&T
Last year, Guyana imported $1 billion from Trinidad and Tobago but only exported some $60.9 million to the Twin-Island Republic.
Over the years, Guyanese manufacturers and exporters have been complaining bitterly about restrictions in Trinidad and Tobago that affect the trade of certain items, especially agricultural products such as honey, peppers and pineapple.
Currently, the Twin-Island Republic’s archaic Food and Drug Act of 1960 and Beekeeping and Bee Products Act of 1935 only allow honey from the Windward and Leeward Islands to be transhipped there. However, the T&T Government has since taken the legislation to Parliament for review.
Despite this and other efforts to lift and ease some of the restrictions, it was recognised that more needs to be done, especially regarding agricultural trade. According to Smith, while there are some areas that Guyanese exporters have been doing well in the Trinidadian market, she identified some of the areas where there is scope for increased trade.
“There are some specific areas that Guyanese are good at [like producing] wiri-wiri peppers… We want to get them into the Trinidadian market, but we cannot at the expense of having somebody sit in front of millions of wiri-wiri peppers to destem them [which T&T requires]. We don’t think it’s advisable for our pineapples to be destemmed. Nobody wants to buy pineapple if it doesn’t have the [heads/crowns] on them…”
“This is a concern of the private sector in Trinidad and Tobago too, not just in Guyana because they want the peppers in; they want the pineapples in. The honey is a transhipment [issue]. We want the honey to pass through. So, our focus right now are those specific areas,” the GCCI President stated.

Prioritising areas of focus
Meanwhile, the T&T Chamber President pointed out that while the trade disparity is mainly due to the energy sector, she too believes that more work needs to be done to address some of the barriers.
To this end, the MoU inked on Wednesday provides for the establishment of a working group that will work on prioritising the areas of focus for the two chambers to advance. According to Yip Chuck, the areas would be expansive and not just limited to one sector.
“This is no just maybe trade, investment and tourism. This would be agriculture or health… We have been engaging different Ministries, and they too have committed to looking at some of these. But we have to prioritise together the first set that we would like to present. And maybe the honey, peppers and the pineapples would fall into the first five, or maybe a mechanism of working together may be the first framework and then everything else follows because we’re looking for a structure that would be continuous.”
“Back in 2023-2024, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber had worked with the GCCI, and some of the wins was some improvements in the pineapple crowns…the peppers and I think the eddoes… However, we recognise that there is still work to be done, and that’s why it cannot be one-off. It has to be continuous, which is why this framework is so critical,” the TTCIC President stated.
Under this MoU, the non-trade barrier issues are being categorised into three main areas, including the setting up of a joint trade desk with a template that would receive complaints from traders and track the issues in order to resolve them. Additionally, from Trinidad’s side, they are also looking at updating the Fresh Produce Protocol to open up opportunities for trade as well as a mechanism to deal with taxation issues.
The signing of this MoU stemmed from work by the two chambers that has been ongoing since 2022 to address matters impacting bilateral trade between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
Also attending Wednesday’s signing ceremony at the GCCI’s boardroom were the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago, Priya Marajh, and Chief Executive Officer of the T&T Chamber, Dr Vashti Guyadeen.