Stabroek Business has learnt that several Guyanese businesses have already registered for the November 17th & 18th Florida International Trade Expo which will, among other things, bring together manufacturers and potential buyers from parts of the United States and the Caribbean.
For Guyana, The opportunity to participate in an international Trade Expo comes at a time when such openings have been seriously constrained by the advent of the covid-19 pandemic and its implications for international travel and large gatherings. Essentially, the event creates what, at this time, is a limited and valuable opportunity for potential US market access for locally manufactured goods. The event is also expected to attract Agents, Distributors, Buyers and representatives and wholesalers “seeking high-quality products for distribution and sale in the Caribbean and elsewhere.
Guyana’s expected participation in the event underlines the stepped-up efforts of local manufacturers to successfully negotiate markets in the United States for goods produced mostly by an emerging agro processing sector.
Even as planning proceeds for the event, however, concerns exist over the prevailing covid-19 travel restriction regime which, a October 11 Miami Herald article says would mean that “many people from Latin America and the Caribbean will not be able to travel to the US.” The article also alludes to what it describes as “new rules” to be rolled out “in early November” that could also prohibit persons who have been administered the Russian Sputnik V and Cuba’s Soberana vaccines from traveling to the US.
Significant numbers of Guyanese are known to have been administered the Sputnik V vaccine.
With two weeks remaining before the Florida event Stabroek Business understands that the Guyana/America Chamber of Commerce has intervened with the US authorities seeking a review of the circumstance which, as of now, are likely to restrict some would-be participants in the Florida event from traveling to the US.
In an invited comment, President of the Guyana American Chamber of Commerce Wesley Kirton told the Stabroek Business that the Chamber considered the US’ decision “to exclude the Sputnik-vaccinated from qualifying for entry into the United States very unfortunate.” He said that the Chamber was seeking a waiver of the US ruling in a circumstance where Caribbean and Latin American participation in the event was “a matter of mutual interest……….The United States is Guyana’s number one trading partner and this decision serves to negatively impact the conduct of business between our two countries. It restricts the travel of businesspersons who need to come to the US to purchase critical supplies, to attend trade shows and to engage in negotiations with suppliers and US buyers and distributors. Particularly affected will be small and medium size enterprises, many owned by women who head single parent families,” Kirton said.
While it is as yet unclear as to the numbers of Guyanese businesses that will be represented at the Florida event Kirton told the Stabroek Business that it was likely that a number of small business owners might be keen to be there since it may well be “the first serious potential opportunity” that has been afforded them in more than a year to access an international market. He said that the event will afford visiting Guyanese businesses the opportunity to establish longer-term business relationships. “This may well be a very significant opening for some Guyanese businesses since the event is coming on the back of an explosion of international interest, not least, US interest in Guyana following developments arising out of its emerging oil and gas industry.”
Kirton said that the Guyana/America Chamber of Commerce had already negotiated some free display tables for attendees at the event from Guyana.
