Yet another initiative would appear to be underway to secure Guyana’s much sought-after increased market in the United States for the country’s agricultural and agro-produced goods through an information-sharing arrangement involving Guyanese public and private sector officials on the one hand, and US functionaries suitably positioned to aid the process, on the other.
Yesterday’s scheduled virtual forum, organized by the Guyanese/American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) was expected, the organisers told the Stabroek Business, to examine “Strategies for Exporting to the US market,” an initiative that is not without precedent though the desired outcomes have not, up until now been realised.
A brief on yesterday’s forum seen by the Stabroek Business indicated that the agenda for yesterday’s forum would focus on, among other things, exploring, not for the first time, the procedural and phyto-sanitary measures that must be met by Guyanese exporters seeking to find US markets for agro-produce and processed/value-added commodities including fresh fruit and vegetables.
Fora of the nature of yesterday’s event that have allowed Guyanese businesses to directly engage US officials on the key issue of market access are not without precedent, though progress in the direction of actualising the much sought-after increased market access has been decidedly slow. Local market access hopefuls have attributed this to the seeming inability of the engagements to benefit from meaningful follow-up though the organisers. However, the event held earlier this week pointed to the roles being played this time around, by local business support organisations, high-profile local business persons, and US trade facilitation functionaries.
Yesterday’s discourses aside, the anticipated reporting by the organisers on the outcomes of the event will be expected to provide enhanced guidance, particularly for would-be exporters in the agriculture, agro- processing, and wider manufacturing sector, on the issue of securing sustained and hassle-free access to US markets. The two named US officials who were expected to participate in yesterday’s forum are Catherine Fulton, a Senior Director in the US Department of Agriculture, and Nan Fife, Director, Office of Caribbean Affairs, US Department of State. This newspaper is aware of occasions in previous years on which small businesses in the agro-processing and fashion sectors, particularly, have attended events in the US not dissimilar to yesterday’s webinar though it has seen no reports of outcomes that have positively impacted their access to markets in the US.
While yesterday’s event would have been constrained by its inability to offer opportunity for face-to-face exchanges between local businessmen and women and US officials, the programme seen by this newspaper indicates that participants in the webinar would have included participants from both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of State in the USA as well as officials from the local Private Sector Commission, the Caribbean Agricultural Research & Development Institute (CARDI), and local business executives.
Current local concerns surrounding market access to the US for goods originating in Guyana have focussed primarily on processed/value-added foods. Apart from the need to satisfy the phyto-sanitary concerns of importing countries, local would-be exporters have also been confronted with challenges relating to package and labelling standards.
Up to yesterday there was no word on what the Stabroek Business had learnt from the organisers, were plans to disseminate information on the outcomes of the virtual forum to small businesses which would have had a vested interest in both the deliberations and outcomes of the event.
