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Guyana moves to sign agriculture agreement
– St Kitts & Nevis wants to cash in on Takutu Bridge opportunities
At least one Caribbean country is looking to capitalise on trade opportunities of the Takutu River Bridge that links Guyana and Brazil.
During the first ever CARICOM/Brazil summit which opened yesterday, Chairman of Caricom, Dominica’s Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerritt, described the inaugural summit as a “new chapter” in their relationship, according to a report on the www.allvoices.com website.
The Caricom delegation meets with the Brazilians in the South American republic
He announced that the CARICOM- Brazil Technical Co-operation Agreement was expected to be signed at the end of the one-day summit and would cover 16 areas including agriculture, health, tourism and transportation.
Guyana was expected, yesterday, to also sign a major agreement that would see an acceleration of agriculture projects in the Rupununi area.
Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud and Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues have joined President Bharrat Jagdeo for the summit.
“We welcome the new chapter in our relationship which will be heralded by the conclusion at this historic meeting,” said Skerritt. He said that the Technical Co-operation agreement would be “given impetus” by a memorandum of understanding in five priority areas.
Noting that Brazil was the bridge between CARICOM and Latin America, the leader of the English-speaking Dominica also announced that Caricom member-nation St. Kitts and Nevis plans to join the Guyana-Brazil Partial Scope Trade Agreement.
When inked, that would allow the twin-island federation to take advantage of trade opportunities across the seven-month old Takutu River Bridge that links northern Brazil and southern Guyana.
“I have no doubt that this physical link will expand economic benefits to the CARICOM region.” “This bridge will help make available a trade route which will further the efforts of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) which is intended to provide the springboard to facilitate CARICOM’s integration into the hemispheric and global environment through more competitive production thereby enhancing our trade relations,” he added.
Businesses in northern Brazil regard Guyana as a shorter route to the Caribbean and North America via the Atlantic Ocean.
CARICOM leaders and Brazil’s President, Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ Da Silva, yesterday also signed a wide-ranging technical co-operation agreement.
CARICOM leaders were also expected to reiterate their call for Brazil to support efforts to give small nations like those in the Caribbean a greater say in policy-making through adequate representation in traditional international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Brazil has in the past provided cheap generic anti-retroviral drugs to help CARICOM fight HIV. The South American country has also played a major role in the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and helped with rescue and recovery efforts following the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince earlier this year.
The CARICOM Secretariat said that the summit is “expected to identify avenues for the development of co-operation between CARICOM and Brazil in many sectors; political, commercial, economic, cultural, consular, and educational.
“The Heads of Government based on preliminary consultations have shown a commitment to enhance co-operation and collaboration and a quest for mechanisms to monitor that co-operation and strengthen their historical and cultural bonds,” the statement added.
It said that several bilateral meetings between CARICOM and Brazil preceded the summit and made reference to the 2005 Intersessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Suriname that was addressed by Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva.
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