Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Guyana reiterates disappointment with CARIFORUM/EU agreement


Minister Robert Persaud in discussion yesterday with,
from left: European Commission High Commissioner
to Guyana Ambassador Geert Heikens; Mr. Nick Jackson – former
Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo; Mr. Jos Van Campen, EU Beet
Confederation Grower; and Mr. Nikiforos Silevas, EU (Agriculture)
Commissioner.


THE 11th Special African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Ministerial Conference opened here yesterday with Prime Minister Samuel Hinds reiterating Guyana’s disappointment with the provisions in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between CARIFORUM countries and the European Union (EU) on trade in products with sugar content.
Speaking at the International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, he made it known that Guyana will press for changes in the pact which is subject to review in three years.

“We will have to insist on the removal of the accumulation stipulation that prevents one regional supplier from engaging in value addition in a sister State, for the purpose of exporting the product into the European Union (EU) duty free,” Mr. Hinds indicated.

He said, while ACP States have been urged to develop this type of South/South cooperation, the exclusion of government guarantees on price and member States being the buyers on last resort remain the biggest blow.

“This is evident in the abolition of the intervention price and the position of a price guarantee of 90 per cent of the reference until 2012, in a regime that extends until 2015, with no assured buyer of last resort.

“We have negotiated long term agreements with private buyers on purely commercial grounds, without the previous guarantee of price,” the Prime Minister said.

He pointed out, too, that the local sugar industry remains a key challenge in Guyana’s economic restructuring process, to which the sub-sector, the largest in the country, contributes some 15 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for the livelihood of 20 per cent of the population.

Mr. Hinds said Government’s investment in the state-of-the-art Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project (SSMP) in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne), is testament to its commitment to secure a self-sustaining and regenerating, economically viable industry.

“The industry’s focus is on value-added products, such as packaged sugar, refined sugar and molasses utilisation,” he explained to the distinguished gathering of ACP Ministers.

2 comments:

  1. The EU only wants to come and use Guyanese like they did during the 1900's. Expliotation is their mode for success

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  2. Is Paul Mc Adam a PNCR lick-bamsee, a Journalist or just looking for a salary?

    I pen my dissatisfaction with the work of Paul Mc Adam of the Evening News who seems to be in this business for ever but has learnt absolutely nothing.

    The man is one who seen to just slap stuff together and call it a story, when he do go to the PNC Press Conferences, all he does is to bad talk government and “finger pick” stuff that shed a bad light on the work of the administration.

    Mr Mc Adam, where is your journalistic pride? or are you trying to se if you can try a Roy Babel to end up on the PNCR 2011 list? you need to do better than that if you want to b a true journalist, all guyanese including journalists have their political allegiance, but when it comes to work you must be professional and fair and do what a journalists supposed to be doing not PR for the PNCR.

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