-shipment of shea butter arrives from Nigeria
Even as the mutual pursuits of Guyana and Africa in the realm of oil and gas serve to help forge business and commercial ties between the two, initiatives designed to hasten the pace of that relationship continue to unfold.
Days ago, the African Caribbean Chamber of Trade, Commerce and Industry disclosed that working in collaboration with the Nigerian High Commission in Trinidad and Tobago with non-resident accreditation for Guyana it had successfully initiated what it said was the start of commodity trading between Georgetown and Lagos.
The disclosure, made to the Stabroek Business by President of the Chamber, Onoja Atta Onoja comes in the wake of a flurry of exchange visits between Guyana and Ghana at the level of Heads of Government with talks on possible collaboration in the oil and gas industry at the forefront of the exchanges.
Analysts of what is now seen as a potentially significant breakthrough for Africa/Caribbean relations point out that the development has come following a lengthy hiatus in meaningful Africa/Caribbean ties that had developed during the years of the liberation struggle and afterwards grown into diplomatic ties between the Caribbean and the liberated countries on the continent.
In its release, the Chamber, which describes itself as “a body focused on improving trade between Africa and the Caribbean Region “with its headquarters in Georgetown” disclosed that it recently facilitated “the first commercial commodity quantity goods between Nigeria and Guyana…a 20ft container carrying shea butter” from Lagos which, it says, “marks the start of commodity trading between Guyana and Nigeria and the wider Sub-Saharan region.”
Meanwhile, the Chamber also said that the first cargo from Guyana is expected to arrive in Nigeria by the end of the year. That shipment, according to the release, will consist largely of rum and rum products.
The release says that as part of the Chamber’s efforts to continually enhance trading relations between Guyana and Africa “intense work” is being done to “reduce shipping time and make the route more commercially viable.”
“The Chamber equally wishes to inform the public that direct flights between Africa and the Caribbean (are) expected to commence before the end of the year. Routes are currently being finalized with airlines and regional governments,” the release says.
And according to the release the framework for exchanges between Guyana and Nigeria is already established through the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps – a framework for the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between Nigeria and countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions.
