Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM
T&T, Guyana can no longer afford superficial talks on removal of trade barriers- GCCI Head
Kaieteur News – While Guyana and her CARICOM sister, Trinidad and Tobago, may have a deep interest in pooling their resources to build a world class hydrocarbon industry, the removal of trade barriers is a fundamental, age-old matter that has to be put to rest.
GCCI President, Timothy Tucker
This is essentially the perspective of President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Timothy Tucker. During his appearance on Kaieteur Radio’s programme last week, Tucker said both nations stand to benefit greatly from a united front on the energy sector. Be that as it may, he said issues pertaining to trade which have undermined production, growth and regional equality, ought to be addressed.
In his eyes, these two CARICOM states can ill-afford to have superficial talks regarding the strengthening of trade systems.
Tucker said, “I wish to remind of the words uttered by President Irfaan Ali and that of Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley: “There needs to be a coalition of the willing.” These two leaders have used the said statement to underscore that the problems of the Caribbean can be solved quickly if we act as one.
“You must be willing to solve it and if you’re not willing to solve the issues that are causing rifts, that are creating the inequality throughout the region, then it makes no sense talking about big ticket items like oil and gas.”
The GCCI President recalled that his organization has been at the forefront of highlighting the difficulties Guyanese businesses face in getting some of their produce, be it with pineapples, honey, or pumpkin, into certain territories.
Tucker said, “In a relationship you show honesty, trust, and camaraderie…and if you can’t eliminate the basic challenges then why should we even talk about the bigger things like oil.”
Having stated such a position, Tucker noted that a Task force has been established to address non-tariff barriers. Tucker who is close to the matter said both nations have exchanged a list of actionable items which is being worked on. A list of similar areas for improvement has also been presented to other CARICOM states.
It was only last month that T&T’s Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley and President Irfaan Ali disclosed that a taskforce was created to not only address non-tariff barriers, but also standardise and define policies for trade.
At a News Conference at the Diplomatic Center in Port of Spain, after bi-lateral talks on trade, transport, energy and agriculture, Rowley explained that the non-tariff barriers – restrictions on trade outside of tariff systems – will undermine CARICOM’s goals of creating an efficient single market and economy (SME) if not controlled.
He said in many cases, policies to protect countries are used to limit or reject goods which could be traded.
“When I was Agriculture Minister, we wanted to sell pork to Jamaica,” he said.
“TT had a good pork-producing infrastructure here. But we couldn’t because, while there was no tariff against the meat from TT, a Jamaican interest group – mainly technical people – used animal health to say, “You TT had swine fever 25 years ago, therefore we cannot buy any pork from you because you might introduce swine fever into Jamaica. As a result of that, the pork business in TT, which was heavily supported by the TT Government and the private sector, shrunk.”
The PM added, “Sometimes a customs officer by him or herself, using the customs law of the country, would say this or that cannot come in. And a lot of that is happening in CARICOM.”
Ali for his part was keen to note that policies are widely open to interpretation by public servants monitoring what enters through the ports, and this serves as a barrier to trade. The task force will deal with this issue, he said.
Ali said work has already started for the task force, as many of the barriers have been identified and listed. He said both Governments would keep the public informed on its progress.
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