Persaud urges review of ‘lost’ 6m euros
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud met with a team from the European Commission (EC) yesterday to review the country’s sugar action plan and pressed for the EC to reconsider its position on denying Guyana $6 million euros in resources.
Guyana failed to secure the 2007/2008 tranche from the EU because of the late submission of GuySuCo’s sugar action plan.
The team is here to conduct a mid-term assessment of the EC’s support for the Accompanying Measures for Sugar Protocol countries, which guides the commission on the delivery of assistance to all Sugar Protocol countries.
The agenda for the meeting with Persaud also included an update on government initiatives and efforts in the industry to realize the objectives of the Sugar Action Plan. The Minister spoke of GuySuCo’s blueprint for success which is currently before Cabinet and emphasized that it focuses on cost cutting and expanding production.
A press release from the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday that while Persaud addressed the issues on the agenda he also raised the matter of flexibility as he pointed to the various challenges facing the industry including the EU’s 36 percent cut in the price paid to Guyana for sugar.
The Minister also spoke of the EU accelerating promised support given that the Sugar Protocol which provided a preferential price and guaranteed markets ends in a few months.
The release said that he urged the EC to recognize the difficulties being faced by the industry in light of the global economic crisis and climate change, and the efforts to satisfy the various indicators for funding.
The EC assessment mission is being coordinated through the Ministry of Finance which has the lead on interaction with the EC. Members of the EC team included Patrick Chaussepied; Evelgne Fraunan; consultants for the European Commission; Head of the EC Delegation here Geert Heikens; Rigo Belpaire and Alain Castermans, representatives from the European Commission Delegation and Members of the Guyana National Plan Steering Committee.
The release added that the team will also be meeting with other stakeholders including the Private Cane Farmers and the National Cane Farming Committee.
