This week’s commissioning of the Takutu Bridge formalizing a road link between Guyana and Brazil underscores both the opportunities and the challenges that Guyana will face in pursuit of the strengthening of ties with its southern neighbour, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chandradat Chintamani told Stabroek Business in an interview earlier this week.
“The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) welcomes the formal opening of the Takutu Bridge. At the same time the event serves to remind us of the myriad challenges associated with managing relations with our powerful neighbour,” Chintamani said.
“On its own the opening of the Takutu Bridge does no more than create an official crossing point between Guyana and Brazil. There has always been the movement of people between the two countries. Now that there is an official crossing point, however, there is clearly a need to create enhanced security mechanisms to ensure that illegal crossings are limited if not eradicated. Given what we have already seen in terms of movement across the border that is not a challenge that we can afford to underestimate,” Chintamani said.
And while the GCCI President welcomed the announcement by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva that his country will be engaging Guyana in discussions with regard to the construction of an all-weather road from Lethem to Linden, he told Stabroek Business that Guyana should not limit its thinking to the announcement made by the Brazilian President. “We need to look beyond what President Lula has said and to explore other possibilities for financing both the road and the deep water harbour. These, along with the Takatu Bridge, represent a holistic economic infrastructure that will contribute to transforming our economy.”
The GCCI President said that while the full effects of the creation of an official crossing between Guyana and Brazil are unlikely to be felt for some time the challenges for the local private sector were already patently apparent. “We know, for example, that our manufacturing sector lacks the capacity to satisfy even 1 per cent of the Brazilian market. That is an important challenge. If we are to try to satisfy that market we need to entirely overhaul our thinking as far as our approaches to production are concerned. Perhaps, more importantly we need to find ways of rendering the production process more competitive. That is the only way that we can take advantage of the Brazilian market.”
Local private sector bodies have held a number of fora and have also been engaging state officials and agencies on ways in which the productive sector can equip itself to take advantage of the road link between the two countries.
Chintamani told Stabroek Business that the opportunities afforded by the creation of a road link between Guyana and Brazil should not be allowed to obscure the reality of the challenges that inhere in the creation of a facility for the greater movement of people and goods between the two countries. “Free movement between Guyana and a country as large and as diverse as Brazil has its own implications, its own challenges. We need, for example, to be aware of the importance of putting security mechanisms in place to protect ourselves from the smuggling of illegal goods into the country which can have the effect of killing off many of our vulnerable industries. We need to remind ourselves that the Takutu Bridge is, in effect, a gateway to Guyana for other parts of South America including countries that are known for the production of counterfeit goods. Then there are those security concerns that arise out of the possibility of the movement of arms into Guyana. We are likely to lose much more than we gain if we are ineffective in monitoring what comes in and what goes out. Here there are challenges for the Customs and Immigration authorities as well as for the security services. These agencies will clearly need to raise their game. Closer ties with Brazil are welcome but that does not mean that we can afford to lose sight of the need to safeguard our borders,” Chintamani said.
