Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General Ambassador Irwin La Rocque says the Caricom market continues to offer opportunities for the Guyana private sector, noting that the country ranks third in exports to the regional trading bloc.
He was speaking at a business luncheon hosted by the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association last week Wednesday at the Pegasus Hotel.
La Rocque said that for 2010, Guyana exported US$118.3 million worth of goods to the rest of Caricom. This ranked it third in the community with respect to exports for that year tomember states and represented US$6 million more than in 2009.
He noted that the principal exports were rice, fish and sugar, in that order, and that the exports to the Caricom market amounted to 13 per cent of Guyana’s total exports. “While three products dominate these exports, it nonetheless demonstrates that the Caricom market is valuable to Guyana; and given Guyana’s vast economic and business potential, I suggest to you that with sustained focused attention, these exports can grow,” he said.
He noted that Guyana could easily supply goods for which other countries in the region seek a suspension of the Common External Tariff (CET) to import. “There are several products for which suspensions are regularly sought, which can be produced for export right here in Guyana,” he said, noting that last year the Caricom Secretariat received eight requests for suspension of the CET for pineapple juice concentrate and cherry concentrate, amounting to approximately 1.1 thousand metric tonnes and 420 metric tonnes, respectively. “In addition, 12 requests were received for turmeric amounting to approximately 2,000 metric tonnes. There were 14 requests for soya bean oil amounting to 32,000 metric tonnes. [A total of] seven requests were received for peanuts amounting to 7.5 million kilogrammes. [A total of] five requests for ginger amounting to 89,000 kilogrammes and four requests for thyme totaling 53,000 kilogrammes, were also received,” he said.
“These are but a few of the many opportunities which Guyanese and other regional producers and manufacturers could, and must grasp. If they do, intra-regional trade can be increased significantly,” said La Rocque.
He said the secretariat is in the process of collating a list of items for which member states have requested suspensions of the CET over a number of years. “This list is intended to be shared with you, the private sector, so that you can identify opportunities for investment, given that the suspensions and derogations relate to products either not available or not available in sufficient quantity to satisfy regional demand,” he said.
La Rocque said, however, that while the secretariat is not able to provide assistance to the private sector it could help to mobilize such assistance, such as the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA). He further added that under the European Union-funded Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme, there is provision for direct assistance to the private sector to assist with access to EU markets.
“Twenty-eight million euros in grant funds have been made available to the Caribbean Export Development Agency to provide direct support to the Caribbean private sector to enhance competitiveness and innovation. There is no reason why members of this Association should not be beneficiaries of such assistance which is possible through the submission of appropriate proposals to Caribbean Export by the private sector,” he explained.
The Secretary General said that having recognised that the vast majority of the region’s private sector is in the micro, small and medium enterprise category, the Secretariat is seeking to promote the further development of these enterprises through a project titled, ‘Integrate Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) into the CSME.’ He noted that among its objectives are an increase in the number of production integration possibilities for SMEs and an increase in SME productivity in those industries where an international competitive advantage may exist.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, all these measures I have outlined are set in the context of encouraging private sector growth and competitiveness which, in turn, would lead to profits and thereby create employment. There is no doubt that the debilitating effects of the global financial crisis of 2008, which led to a 12 per cent fall in international trade and contraction in economic activity in 2009, reversed economic gains which had steadily accrued to many Caricom economies in the preceding years,” he said.
But he noted that the regional private sector has since gradually clawed its way back. “Exports, which declined by 46 percent in 2009, demonstrated a modest 15 percent expansion in 2010 and again expanded in 2011,” he said. “However, Caricom’s exports are not likely to hit pre-2009 levels in the near future,” he added.
