As if the already existing challenges associated with external market access for locally produced goods had not already impacted significantly on export earnings and, in at least one case, forced the closure of operations by at least one company, we are now confronted with the additional, self-imposed impediment to accessing markets in the United States that has to do with the proliferation of drug trafficking through concealment in various known and legitimate exports including pepper sauce, fish, vegetables and some wood products.
The practice, understandably, has attracted a response both locally and in the United States, particularly, and the upshot of this has been that some types of exports from Guyana now come under rigorous scrutiny at both exit and entry ports.
During an address at a recent function hosted by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), President of the organization, Ramesh Dookhoo dropped a broad hint regarding just how big a problem this has become for legitimate exporters by appealing directly to the United States Ambassador who was a guest at the function to support an initiative to help put an end to the problem.
Specifically, Mr Dookhoo recommended the introduction of what he described as a Recognized Economic Exporter (REC) system that would enable the authorities to differentiate between “genuine exporters” and those one-off ‘traders’ who are in the business for what he described as the “other item” meaning, of course, drugs.
It would, of course, have been difficult for the US Ambassador to respond immediately to the idea proffered by Mr Dookhoo since such a proposal would require particularly careful study and at some stage, the imprimatur of the governments of both Guyana and the United States; and at any rate, as Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Chandradat Chintamani told this newspaper, the critical importance of eradicating the use of locally produced goods as a cover for exporting drugs, notwithstanding, that cannot be pursued in a manner that makes it virtually impossible for legitimate first-time exporters to access overseas markets.
If the concern among local exporters that this constraint to full access to the US market is understandable, what is equally certain is that the onus is on the authorities here rather than on the US authorities to correct the problem since, in the final analysis the receiving or importing country will feel justified in simply imposing a thicket of rules governing ‘suspicious cargo’ and, in circumstances where the problem is perceived to have reached unacceptable levels, finding ways of prohibiting those imports altogether.
This, in circumstances where the GMSA has already been expressing concern over limited access to external markets, would be an unbearable tragedy.
Since it is altogether reasonable to assume that drug traffickers will continue to use common exports as vessels through which to conduct the trade, the challenge of making our exports safe is a task, first, for the private sector agencies, the government and the exporters themselves since, in the final analysis, the economic loss resulting from a further reduction in exports will reverberate here rather than in the United States,
If the challenge is by no means an easy one, the dire consequences of failing to meet it ought to focus the collective mind of the stakeholders on removing, or at least considerably reducing what is now regarded as a major impediment to the free flow of our exports into our major overseas market.
While Mr Dookhoo’s advocacy of what, presumably, is some form of certification of RECs is clearly a recommendation aimed at easing the headache being faced by legitimate exporters, one wonders whether the United States would be prepared to provide what would amount to an ‘all clear’ for a particular category of exporter as a basis for differentiating between “genuine exporters” and those whose concern is with the “other item.”
