-Says Guyana meets most criteria
SPEAKING OF the “difficult situation” GuySuCo is still facing, with consequential production shortfall, EU Ambassador Geert Heikens said that the entity has a tremendous task to meet sugar targets, especially in view of the fact that the large capacity of the Skeldon sugar factory is not being met by cane production.
However, Mr. Heikens expressed hope that the requisite conditions will be achieved to enable the sugar corporation to reach its aspired target of 300,000 tonnes for 2011, especially in view of the fact that the survival of thousands of persons depend — directly and indirectly — on the survival of the sugar industry, although the target may be “too ambitious,” given the “still difficult” extant circumstances. Referring to the current round of EU budgetary support for Guyana’s sugar industry, consequent upon the EU 36% cut in price for sugar from African, Caribbean, Pacific, which took effect from July of 2006, Mr. Heikens said that under the Accompanying Measures for the Sugar Protocol the EU had provided a grant of 90 million Euros to be disbursed from 2007 in four consecutive annual tranches, with the final installment due in 2010.
According to Ambassador Heikens, 58.2 million Euros have already been disbursed to the Government for reforming the industry; and this money has been invested in refurbishing sugar factories, establishing the Enmore packaging plant, and restructuring the sugar production methodologies to enhance productivity and profitability.
18 million Euros will be released to the Guyana Government this year by the EU for investments in the sugar industry.  However, regrettably, because the production criteria have not been met, 14 million Euros will be returned to the Commission. Six million euros was lost on the grounds of late submission of the sugar action plan, despite Government’s contending that there was no delay.
Ambassador Heikens is optimistic, however, that additional funding for Guyana’s sugar sector is in the pipeline, and will become available in the period 2011-2013.  The EU Ambassador disclosed that most of the criteria for funding of Guyana’s developmental programmes are usually met, although, if there is a breach in time limits he tends to overlook time constraints, because his primary concern is the finished product, although he most often work according to rules and guidelines as set out by the Commission.
According to the Ambassador, three of the general conditions governing funding by the EU are stable macro-economic fundamentals, realization of IMF Article 4, and progress in poverty reduction, all of which criteria Mr. Heikens said Guyana has met.  At this point Mr. Heikens also gave credit to Guyana for its successful diversification programme and also for doing well with the Millennium Development Goals, although he expressed some concern over the rise in maternal mortality over recent times.  The Ambassador, however, praised the service delivered at the Caribbean Heart Institute.
The Ambassador concluded by averring that the EU works well with Guyana and that the programmes undertaken by Guyana are doing reasonably well in comparison with other countries.