The Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) yesterday announced that the Caribbean Investment Forum will be held in Guyana this year and its head, Deodat Maharaj, hopes that when CARICOM leaders meet here next month that plans for the intra-regional ferry service are finalised.
“There are three things, the free movement of our people across all occupational categories and second is a formal agreement and an announcement for intra-regional transportation, including, the timetable when this first inter-regional ferry will start and the plans going forward to expand this ferry service to include other countries,” the Executive Director of CEDA [Caribbean Export] told the Stabroek News yesterday as he listed areas he hopes are discussed at next month’s CARICOM Heads of Government meeting, to be held here.
He added, “Also the ease of doing business in the Caribbean. We need to radically transform how we do business in the Caribbean, in terms of regulatory and policy environment because the Caribbean is a very difficult place to do business.”
The CEDA Head is currently in Guyana on a four-day visit which wraps up today, to hold discussions with officials from the Government, CARICOM, CARIFORUM, and the Euro-pean Union.” He said that the main regional trade and investment promotion agency is also using the opportunity to enhance its visibility in Guyana, “so that persons are aware of what we do and can fully leverage the support we provide to boost the country’s exports and attract investments, as many believe they are focused only on export.”
CEDA is an autonomous body that says it implements “a range of innovative and focused initiatives designed to facilitate Caribbean businesses expansion nationally, regionally and internationally into high value markets whilst taking advantage of special market access. We assist businesses that have the export potential or are already exporting to increase their capacity and competitiveness, to boost export earnings and create precious jobs.”
Maharaj said that the two recent announcements of ferry services in the region is something that he is elated about and is sure that many Caribbean nationals and businesses are too, given the potential opportunities they bring.
Last week, a Caribbean private sector consortium – Connect Caribe, launched its ferry initiative saying they anticipate the company will secure the US$50 million needed to make a modern regional cargo and ferry service a reality by the end of this year.
And while Connect Caribe is working with CARICOM and individual governments to ensure smooth passage as it relates to the CARICOM Single Market & Economy and regulatory frameworks, the service is different from the one CARICOM has in mind.
Earlier in the month, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley confirmed that Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago have agreed to a ferry service company.
Rowley had made the disclosure at the opening of the Phoenix Park Industrial Estate in Point Lisas, Central Trinidad where he detailed that routes between the three Caribbean states and the Galleons Passage will be facilitated by a vessel from the Twin Island Republic.
“On Thursday [January 11, 2023] the Cabinet will sign off on this decision and only this morning, the Minister of Transportation was told to ready the Galleons Passage for the inaugural trip as soon as that documentation is ready and the vessel is ready,” Rowley stated.
Stabroek News on January 6 of this year reported that President Irfaan Ali had announced that the governments of Guyana, Barbados, and the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, had formed a new ferry company that will introduce a passenger and cargo ferry system.
Complement
Connect Caribe officials said that the planned private sector investment service would complement CARICOM’s planned regional transport system. “We have done this in a synergist approach with CARICOM,” Chairman and Founder of Pleion Group Inc. and Upturn Funds Caribbean, Dr Andre Thomas told a press conference at the launch.
“Our intention, with all things being equal, is that the service will begin at the end of this year. We believe that will be realistic. As soon as we are in a place where we have enough control of the variables, we will announce when the projected dates of the service will start.”
The private sector ferry service, Maharaj, informed, was birthed out of investment discussions at one of the CEDA forums.
Maharaj is positive that there will be a regional service but he said that citizens need to be clear on when they would come on stream, although he knows that for governments to make such announcements they would have fleshed out certain protocols and regulatory requirements already or are working on them.
“Out of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana and I think Barbados, a formal announcement was made by respective authorities in those countries. The private sector one was conceptualized in The Bahamas we are happy the announcement was made, but it will take some time to get the financing, get the ships etcetera. We are happy as that kind of intra-regional [service] will give us a fantastic boost to not only the movement of people but the movement of goods as well,” he said.
Pointing to the import markets in the Caribbean, as he zoomed in on the over 1.2 million tourists that Barbados hosts every year, he said that a ferry service taking rations to that country alone, which imports more than 90 per cent of all its foods, would be profitable.
“I believe it [the ferry service] should take off and we want it to succeed. Given the announcements made at the highest levels, I see no reason it shouldn’t take off. Prime Minister Rowley already identified a vessel. They have to negotiate port facilities and schedules… etcetera, but I see no reason it can’t take off, say in the next six to eight months. It will be a game changer in intra-Caribbean regional trade, a fantastic boost,” he added.
And where some have said that having two of the same service would be conflicting or not a profit-making move, Maharaj differs. “It is not at all conflicting. The ferry the three governments announced have an initial route but what about the whole eastern Caribbean? … there is enough market share for everybody. I see no reason that they can’t work together… there is more than enough market space. Also, if you have competition you drive down the cost as well, so it is good.”
