Guyana will not get into tit-for-tat with T&T

May 17, 2024 News

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo

…Jagdeo urges level playing field in trade

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana (GoG) will not get into a tit for tat with Trinidad and Tobago on the export of locally produced goods.

This is the position of Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. He made the comments on Thursday during his weekly press conference at Freedom House, Georgetown. His comments come on the heels of a complaint by local beverage manufacturer, Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) that two containers of its milk products were refused entry into Trinidad, although adhering to the country’s known requirements.

T&T’s Ministry of Trade and Industry in a subsequent statement issued on May 15, 2024 explained that there is no prohibition on the importation of Animal Products from any Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member State including Guyana. It however noted that for these products to be exported to Trinidad and Tobago, countries must be approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries (MALF). To this end, VP Jagdeo said he anticipates that the matter would be addressed through the mechanisms available. In the meantime, the former President explained, “…any country believe that it could treat our goods unfairly when it enters their market or even prevent our goods from entering their market whilst having free access to our market then they would have to have a second (thought) about the matter because we are going to ensure that we examine everything and there will be reciprocity.”

He continued, “So it doesn’t necessarily mean we are gonna put in a repressive phytosanitary regime but we will ensure that on the balance of things that you can’t have unimpeded access into our markets and then we will tolerate restricted access into your market. We are just sending that signal.” Jagdeo pointed out that Guyana has long argued that phytosanitary restrictions must not be used to stymie the flow of goods and services across the region. Approximately US$100,000 worth of packaged milk and US$40,000 of flavoured bottled water produced by DDL have been denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago. Executive Chairman of DDL, Komal Samaroo explained that in March this year, DDL exported four 20-foot shipping containers to T&T based on an evaluation of the Trinidad Market by a Trinidadian business enterprise.

While two containers of packaged milk products were denied entry and returned to Guyana, the bottled water products have been restricted from sale pending the completion of an “unconventionally exhaustive examination” of the products. DDL currently exports the same products to three other Caribbean states including Suriname, St. Kitts and Barbados and has not encountered such barriers to trade. Moreover, Guyana does not enforce such requirements.

Samaroo explained, “If you are going to accept as a norm, different set of rules and different standards then we can’t have free trade. It has to be on a common basis. The European Union, the North American Free Trade all on common basis. You can’t have a set of rules that an exporter to your market has to go through these hurdles and then you have ready access to everybody else. It is wrong.” Kaieteur News asked the Samaroo whether he was calling for a standard to be set across CARICOM for the import and export of products among member states. He responded, “I am calling for whatever it takes to allow even access to each market.” When asked if this would be a suggestion to government, he said, “absolutely.”

DDL, goods, Jagdeo, TRADE, Trinidad

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