Guyana and Barbados yesterday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish trade missions between the two countries.
The MoU was signed by Keith Burrowes, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Office for Investment (GoInvest) and Madaline Headley-Woodroffe, Business Development Officer, of the Barbados Industrial Development Corporation (BIDC) at the Guy Expo Investment Forum held at the Guyana International Conference Centre.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report, Burrowes noted that Guyana is examining having MoUs with other countries as well.
Headley-Woodroffe explained that while the main function of the MOU is to facilitate trade between the two countries “for a long time now we have been trading with Guyana and many Caribbean islands.”
She stated that while she is responsible for the Caribbean and Caricom trade agreements, BIDC provides incubation services for some investors for three years, until they graduate into full flight manufacturers. “We provide subsidised factory space and also help them with funding through a special technical assistance programme. We try to encourage entrepreneurship from a young age by assisting the youths in our schools, training them in the ways of how to be entrepreneurs and giving them every opportunity to do so through competitions etc.” she added.
Headley-Woodroffe pointed out that while the Barbadian team is attending GuyExpo mainly to share ideas and learn from Guyana in terms of agriculture, they welcomed help and assistance in areas needed by Barbados.
“We have eight companies being represented and they cross the borders of different areas; cabling, some in food, jewellery, printing, solar power agencies, just to give you a sample of some of the areas we are covering,” Headley-Woodroffe stated.
Observing that solar energy was developed in Barbados first, she expressed hurt that all of the solar panels are now being provided by China, Australia, Germany and other places.
“I believe that as a region we should be able to do more to promote the things which we have developed here and in so doing, we are also looking at having geographical indicators (GI) for some of our products in Barbados, especially in the rum industry because rum was first made in Barbados,” she was quoted as saying by GINA.
She explained that the team is trying to promote GIs in several areas such as black belly sheep farming and husbandry.
Headley-Woodroffe said the MoU is intended to “lead the way” for trade between the two countries while noting that trading in the region does have challenges.
She pointed to the several challenges in exporting products from each country noting that between Guyana and Barbados, it’s mainly in shipping.
“It is difficult to ship items from Barbados directly to Guyana because of the trade route. I believe that the authorities need to address this from both in Barbados and in Guyana and the region generally, because if we are in a small area, I don’t believe that we should have to go Miami or so far field and spend two weeks to get an item here,” she said, while urging that both countries negotiate and discuss with relevant agencies in an effort to improve the situation and trade within the region.
