Guyana is seeking a “transitional arrangement” for itself and the Caribbean region as the United Kingdom (UK) begins the two-year process to leave the European Union (EU).
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge in a GINA press release on Tuesday
said this was raised by President David Granger on his visit to the United Kingdom in late April.
“That transition has implications for those who supply the United Kingdom with products such as sugar in Guyana, and for those who purchase United Kingdom goods which also applies to Guyana,” Greenidge was quoted in the media bulletin as saying.
Those implications referred to by the Minister in the GINA release are tariffs and new regulations which will differ from what are currently being offered by the EU. Greenidge noted that under the EU, the Caribbean, had negotiated an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) for exporting goods to the UK.
“Now that Britain is proposing to leave the (EU) we have now to deal with Britain as a new arena into which we want to get products, and therefore we have to see with them what may be done with the tariffs that had been abolished when Britain was in the EU,” Greenidge was further quoted in the media release as saying.
Establishing a transitional arrangement will facilitate, “a soft landing as a result of these changes” for Guyana and the Caribbean in a whole, Greenidge noted in the GINA bulletin.
At the opening of the 44th regular meeting of Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on May 10, Secretary General of CARICOM, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, noted that Brexit will have an impact on the Region’s external trade relationships, the GINA release said. Britain and the EU are major trade partners of Caricom and a decision had to be made to ensure Caricom’s market access to the UK continued after the Brexit process is complete.
“This is important, given that the UK market absorbs approximately 22 percent of our overall exports to the European Union,” the press bulletin quoted LaRocque as saying.
Britain voted to leave the EU last June in a referendum.
