Dear Editor,
The saga of signing the EPA highlights two important issues: Firstly, it reflects a lack of planning on the part of the government in terms of diversifying its markets for sugar, rum and rice, which are the main products that stand to be affected should Guyana choose not to sign the agreement.
We have for too long been putting all our eggs in one basket and we are all aware of the perils of doing so, especially where we have already seen what the EU did with sugar.
Secondly, the lack of support by fellow Caricom heads again is testimony that Guyana has little to gain from Caricom integration.
So many writers before have articulated that we should be more closely aligned to our South American neighbours, but for some reason successive governments continue to ‘flog this dead donkey.’
I do hope that now that President Jagdeo has seen the writing on the wall he will take steps to encourage trade and closer collaboration with the right people.
Yours faithfully,
Vincent Ferreira
