Jagdeo condemns Guyana’s attempts to trade with Vietnam

Jul 03, 2018 News

“Now tell me, seriously speaking, what exactly is this government going to trade with Vietnam?” That is the question posed by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo as he lambasted the government’s attempts to trade with Vietnam.
While Vietnam is remembered mostly for deadly warfare, the country has thriving production industries.
In fact, the country is considered the only competitor for China when it comes to certain products. The major industries in Vietnam are said to be food processing, garments, textiles, shoes, machine-building; mining, coal, steel; cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, mobile phones.

President David Granger and Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (DPI photo)

Last week, the state media reported that President David Granger, who was attending the Sixth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, had a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. It was said that during the meeting, the two sides committed to an exchange of visits between government officials and business leaders as a means of further advancing relations and trade.
It was reported “President Granger and the Vietnamese Prime Minister and leaders held broad-ranging talks on strengthening relations between their countries, accepting in principle, the need to develop framework agreements to intensify relations. They also shared views on deepening cooperation at the multilateral level.”
Speaking about this, Jagdeo said that Guyana is heading down a slippery economic slope and the President and his Ministers are looking at doing everything else except what needs to be done to save the country.
Jagdeo said, “We’ve got a President who is more comfortable travelling for useless things. I gather he is in Vietnam still. He met the Prime Minister there and they’re talking about increasing trade. What is this about? What is he going to trade with Vietnam now realistically?”
Jagdeo noted the intention to send a mission to Vietnam. “They are going to send a mission. This is useless…You have to produce things to trade them, but production is in crisis. Bauxite is going to be in crisis, forestry is already in crisis, sugar is in crisis and the crisis will start hitting the farmers in Region Five soon.”
Jagdeo said that small gold miners are “already facing the heat. So what are you going to trade? You are going to trade oil with Vietnam? And even if so, we do not even have that yet.”

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