Progress being made on removing regional trade barriers – Ali

…says “coalition of the willing” leading transition from talks to action

Progress has been made when it comes to negotiating the reduction of phytosanitary and other trade barriers in the region, with Caribbean Community (Caricom) Member States dubbed the “coalition of the willing” leading the advance from discussions to actions.

Reporting on this progress was President Dr Irfaan Ali, during a recent press conference to give an update on Guyana’s participation at the 33rd Inter-Sessional Heads of State Meeting. According to him, a coalition of the willing are leading the push from dialogue to action, on removing trade barriers.
“One of the things that we’re working on, is the removal of the barriers to trade. And there is a new term being developed, that is the coalition of the willing. Those who are ready to move forward, we are going to work together in advancing this and moving it forward in an accelerated way.”
“And those who need some time to catch up and sometime in the decision making for the removal of these barriers, will be given that time. But the entire region cannot wait for everyone. We have to advance this,” President Ali said.
President Ali explained that Guyana has been working closely with countries like Belize, Barbados, Suriname, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua, on the issue. He further noted that they have been working on getting trade barriers in Trinidad and Tobago removed, with some success.
“But it calls for a political commitment from the very top. And I’m very pleased to say, that in this Caricom Heads of Government meeting, that political commitment is emerging, as the overwhelming view in terms of the removal of these barriers and the advancement of our common economy,” the President explained.
President Ali had previously declared that his Government would be pursuing an aggressive campaign to dismantle regional barriers to agricultural trade. There have been instances where Guyana’s exports, for instance rice to Jamaica in 2019, was rejected at the port.
On that occasion, the Jamaican Industries, Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry had confiscated 70 metric tonnes of White Cinderella rice from Guyana. This had prompted widespread criticisms centred at the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).
The removal of trade barriers will be integral to Guyana’s push, in consort with other Caricom countries, to reduce the region’s food importation bill by 25 per cent by the year 2025. Guyana currently holds lead responsibility for Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification and Food Security in Caricom and is spearheading the regional body’s quest to reduce its US$5 billion food import bill.
Months after assuming office, President Ali had charged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to assess and address the hurdles related to exporting food and agricultural products to markets within the region. As such, concerns of barriers to trade against exports to some Caricom markets were raised with the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) last year.
The Ministry subsequently formed a National Working Group on Barriers to Trade against Exports from Guyana. According to the assessment on market access by the working group, most of the challenges found were related to technical measures including sanitary and phytosanitary measures. They also found several technical and administrative regulations that were all hampering the export of Guyanese products.
Against this backdrop, Guyana had called on Caricom Member States at the COTED meeting to engage in bilateral discussions to iron out trade barriers with a view of expanding intra-regional trade. Similar views were shared by Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia, Jamaica, and Barbados.
In fact, Guyana and Barbados have since moved forward to minimise the occurrences of these measures that frustrate intra-regional trade with the aim of reducing food importation bills, as part of the overall regional food security plans. (G3)