Latest update February 3rd, 2025 7:00 AM
Latest News
- Govt. assures Exxon not hiding true oil data
- Sheriff Holdings distances self from convicted fraudster Ed Ahmad over suspicious Ogle land deal
- Trump says Americans could feel ‘pain’ in trade war with Mexico, Canada, China
- Soesdyke man killed after car crashes into truck
- Patterson pillories govt. for reckless spending of oil money
Major rice deal inked with Panama
Guyana’s rice industry would more than likely achieve its 2020 target of exporting 500,000 tons this year, thanks to Government securing the Panamanian market on a long term basis. The actual export target for 2014 was 460,000 tons.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy
This was disclosed by Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, Agriculture Minister in a press statement yesterday aimed at updating Guyanese on the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Governments of Guyana and Panama.
He related that Guyana’s exports for 2014 will surpass the 300,000-ton mark by the end of August – the earliest time it has ever been able to reach this level. With this new market, Guyana is expected to export between 475,000 to 500,000 tons for this year. And, it is likely to reach about 550,000 tons in 2015.
While production levels could likely reach the 2020 target of 600,000 tons this year, Government’s effort has ensured that the local market expansion programme is keeping a close upward trajectory with increased production.
Providing information on the MOU that was inked on Thursday (August 14), Dr. Ramsammy indicated that between September and December this year, Guyana would be exporting a total of 20,000 tons of rice to Panama. Guyana is now tasked with exporting 5,000 tons of rice from September until year-end.
According to Dr. Ramsammy, Guyana was able to secure the Panamanian market following a meeting in Colombia. The team of negotiators comprised President Donald Ramotar; Dr. Ramsammy; General Manager of Guyana Rice Development Board, Jagnarine Singh; General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association (RPA) Dharamkumar Seeraj; Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and government officials.
Derived from that meeting was a contract securing a monthly export of about 5,000 tons per month beginning in September and culminating in December 2014. New contracts for 2015 are to be negotiated on satisfactory conclusion of these initial contracts. The signing of the new contracts to supply rice to Panama in a Government-to-Government arrangement ensures that Guyana’s rice market continues to expand, even as production has increased significantly.
Dr. Ramsammy enlightened that the Government, through the Agriculture Ministry and the GRDB in collaboration with the RPA, has been working diligently to expand overseas markets for Guyana’s rice and paddy. He assured that Government is also working assiduously with local millers to build the export market.
“The Government to Government deal to supply rice to Panama and the recent successes of several millers to export small quantities of rice into Panama means that Guyana has become a major player in the rice market in Panama,” Dr. Ramsammy said.
He said President Ramotar has made the issue of rice export an important part of his international engagement.
While Minister Leslie Ramsammy has been carefully and diligently courting this market for at least 18 months and there were several meetings with various Panamanian Government officials, the rapid progress made within the last two weeks in putting the deal together resulted from the meeting between Presidents Ramotar and Varela of Panama in Colombia on August 6.
Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, and Panama’s Vice Agriculture Minister Dr. Esteban Giron ink the agreement. Looking on is President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela.
At that meeting the Panamanian President agreed to consider purchasing rice from Guyana. Mr. Ramotar immediately requested the Guyanese team to travel to Panama to discuss the possible arrangement, he related.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and his team met with Varela, Panama’s Agriculture Minister and his team, and the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs between August 13 and 14 in Panama City. The meeting with Varela took place at the Presidential Office in Panama City on August 14.
At that meeting, the President of Panama was very assertive in describing his country’s commitment to strengthening ties with Guyana and CARICOM, and he said the agreement, to allow Guyana to be a supplier of rice to Panama, is a concrete example of how South-South cooperation can be accelerated, Dr. Ramsammy enlightened.
Panama imports about 150,000 tons of rice annually, through the private sector. The initiative to import about 50,000 tons of rice through a Government to Government arrangement is seeking to ensure people have access to an important dietary staple at an affordable price as the Government of Panama tries to control cost of living in Panama, Dr. Ramsammy said.
The agreement means that Guyana can supply more than 50,000 tons of rice to Panama on an annual basis through the Government to Government arrangement and also compete in an open market to supply some of the remaining 100,000 tons per year.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The PPP/C’s greatest liability
Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- One might have expected that a ruling party basking in the largesse of oil wealth would chart... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
