The private sector has been urged to get more involved in articulating Guyana’s trade policy.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Hugh Todd, issued the call at a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on External Negotiations (NACEN) on March 11th.
According to a March 12th release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he also urged both public and private sector stakeholders to actively participate in discussions aimed on boosting trade with other countries.
During the meeting, it was agreed that the NACEN Technical Working Groups (TWGs) will be reactivated to allow full ventilation of trade-related issues. The release said that it was proposed that TWGs dealing with market access for trade in goods, agriculture and fisheries, and trade in service and electronic commerce could be established as a matter of priority. In the medium to long term, other TWGs dealing with new and emerging issues like investment, environment and Intellectual Property Rights could also be established if deemed necessary, the release added.
Participants at the NACEN Meeting were also updated on the recent World Trade Organisation Thirteenth Ministerial Conference (MC 13) that was convened in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates on February 26 – March 2, 2024. While WTO member countries did not achieve convergence on agriculture and fisheries subsidies negotiations, the participants were informed that the Ministers at MC 13 adopted a forward-looking reform agenda in the Abu Dhabi Declaration and made important decisions regarding the extension of the moratorium on tariff duties on electronic transmissions, and the WTO dispute settlement reform.
Participating in the NACEN meeting at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre were government ministries and agencies that execute trade-related mandates as well as private sector stakeholder representatives from the Private Sector Commission and private businesses.
NACEN is part of Guyana’s consultative framework on foreign trade matters and its mandate is to advise and give guidance on policy and national positions on key issues relating to trade. It also facilitates high-level public-private sector consultations.
