Dear Editor,
Brazil and Guyana share geographical boundaries to Brazil’s extreme north and Guyana’s extreme south and south-west. However, many persons in both Brazil and Guyana are unaware of this fact and this is reflected in the isolation of their citizens from each other.
Transportation links between these two South American countries scarcely assist in the elimination of such isolation. The only air transport link is a commuter one which provides a thrice weekly service between Georgetown and Boa Vista with a 30-seater turbo-propeller aircraft, and there is no sea transportation link between Guyana and any Brazilian port such as Santos (the largest shipping port in Latin America that traded over 72 million tons in 2006).
Guyanese primary trading contact with Brazil is via Boa Vista and Manaus, but the volume is much smaller than that of other Caribbean countries further away such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, which are making better usage of the economic opportunities in Brazil.
On the other side of the border Brazilians have failed to notice that Guyana is a country with territorial dimensions almost equal to Parana or Sao Paulo State, and that it has a lot of forest still preserved. Guyana is bathed by the Atlantic Ocean and with a deep water port (which does not yet exist) the logic of transport in northern Brazil could be reversed in an extremely competent manner.
Guyana also exports bauxite ore, a natural resource from which aluminium is produced, which goes mainly to Russia and China and is not marketed in Brazil, and which is to allow good opportunities of investment in Guyana to go a begging.
Also, Brazilians seeking to study English go to countries in either Europe or North America instead of trying to go to Guyana. The cost of living in Guyana is far cheaper than in the United States or England a fact which most Brazilians do not see.
For many years there have been talks in Brazil about a road link between Boa Vista and Georgetown via Lethem. Although it is less than 400 miles between these two cities, little progress has been achieved. The building of the bridge across the River Takutu on the border between the two countries has taken over seven years to complete, but it should have been done much faster.
The best choice of transport between the two countries, especially for Brazil, is a railway. A railway connecting Manaus to Boa Vista and Georgetown would allow for the marketing of products in the industrial free zone of Manaus, the Pole Agro industrial area of Roraima. There could also be a great alternative for the transport of soybeans in northern Mato Grosso that are shipped through the port of Itacoatiara, in Amazonas. The Port of Georgetown would reverse the logic in the heads of the Brazilian strategists. Navigation on the Amazon River is becoming much more expensive when compared with the opportunity to use a port near Georgetown. A ship, for example, that is bound from Asia to Manaus passes in front of the coast of Guyana. Well, there are studies here showing that that ship takes between 8 to 10 days to travel from offshore Georgetown to Manaus. Meanwhile a freight train between Manaus and Georgetown (approximately 660 miles) would take less than one day of travel.
Another important factor is that the Caricom headquarters is in Guyana – the Common Market of the Caribbean. Therefore from Guyana Brazilian products can reach the Caribbean market in a more economic and aggressive manner. And Brazilian entrepreneurs may be able to establish a sugar factory in Guyana for the production of Demerara sugar for market in Boa Vista, Manaus, and other parts of the Amazon region. Brazilian entrepreneurs have also failed to utilize such opportunities.
Finally, there is a significant cultural exchange opportunity to be exploited between the University of Guyana and Brazil. At the moment there are not even exchanges between the University of Guyana and the Universities of Roraima and Amazonas, which would be much easier. The rhetoric of South American integration has a long history in relation to Guyana. We need more action and less talk.
Yours faithfully,
Aimberê Soares de Freitas
