Says legitimizing illegal Suriname cross-border trade should be taken seriously
Commercial and trade relations between Guyana and neighboring states should not be sacrificed on the altar of territorial controversies and Guyana should seize whatever feasible opportunities to strengthen relations with contiguous countries, according to Chairman of the Private Sector Commission Captain Gerry Gouveia.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Business On Tuesday March 23 at the National Convention Centre during a break in the Guyana-Brazil Business Encounter organized by the Guyana Office for Investment and the Brazilian trade and commerce facilitation entity SEBRAE Gouveia told Stabroek Business that he believed that the idea of legalizing the prevailing regimen of illegal cross-border trade between Guyana and Suriname ought to be taken seriously. “Of course one understands the implications of our territorial dispute with Suriname for the proposal made by the Surinamese that the illegal trade be legitimized by putting proper arrangements in place on both sides. I believe, however, that once our territorial integrity and our national security interests are taken account of we should then proceed to determine how the regularization of an illegal arrangement that has seriously hurt business in Guyana can help us,” Captain Gouveia said.
Implicit in Gouveia’s remarks was a less than veiled disagreement with the decision made by the Guyana Government to decline the recent recommendation made by Suriname that the two sides move to regularize the illegal crossing through which millions of dollars in illegally imported goods are brought from Suriname into Guyana, provoking repeated calls from the both the local manufacturing sector and from government for government to staunch the flow of illegal goods into the country.
“What the flow of illegal goes has actually done – apart from hurting local
business – is to criminalize a number of people. These people should be made to operate within the confines of the law,” Gouveia said.
The PSC Chairman also alluded to the need for Guyana to look more closely at trade and commercial relations with Venezuela, “particularly with pockets of Guyanese communities in places like Puerto Ordaz where the size and potential of the Guyanese community renders it possible to initiate commercial contacts that can be beneficial to both sides.”
Meanwhile, Gouveia told Stabroek Business that the collaborative arrangement involving the Surinamese airline Blue Wing and Roraima Airways, which he owns and operates has been “significantly successful” in providing five flights weekly between Ogle International Airport and Paramaribo. “Apart from the fact that Blue Wing is now offering the first ever international air service out of Ogle Airport, I believe that the service in itself is helping to strengthen both business relations and people to people relations between Guyana and Suriname. Every day ordinary people, businessmen, diplomats and other types of visitors use that service and whatever one might say about the differences between Guyana and Suriname the fact of the matter is that the free and convenient movement of people between the two countries through this service is contributing to improving relations between the two countries,” Gouveia said.
Meanwhile, the PSC Chairman told Stabroek Business that he believes that the visit to Guyana by the Brazilian business delegation organized by GOINVEST and SEBRAE of Brazil provides the single biggest opportunity yet since the opening of the Takatu Bridge “to take the process of cementing trade and commercial ties with northern Brazil forward.” Noting that the Brazilian business contingent from the state of Roraima comprised “more than 50 persons” Gouveia told Stabroek Business that in his view “we need no further proof that businesses in northern Brazil – businesses in tourism, agriculture, hospitality, air services and other types of business ventures – are serious about doing business in Guyana. In a sense what one hopes this visit does is to galvanize the Guyanese business community into recognizing and seizing the opportunity afforded by the visit here by the Brazilian delegation,” Gouveia said.
“What is particularly significant about this visit to Guyana by the Brazilian delegation is that they traveled by road rather than by air. I believe that the choice of traveling overland symbolizes the focus by the Brazilian delegation on the importance of a road link between the two countries, The Brazilians certainly see the bigger picture in terms of the broader strategic advantages of the road between the two countries and that is not a point that should escape us,’ the PSC Chairman said.
Gouveia told Stabroek Business that “from the local private sector standpoint what we are looking is a fully paved highway. We can no longer focus on a road link that is built in phases over a lengthy period of time. There are those who might say that the short-term benefits of a paved highway for Guyana are limited. The fact of the matter is, however, that as far as strengthening links with Brazil are concerned we need to think in the longer term. I believe that the next ten years of this country’s development will be tied, primarily, to two considerations. The first is the stability of the country’s economy and the second is the quality of our relations with Brazil,” Gouveia added.