–at second meeting with private sector
THE Delegation of the European Union in Guyana hosted the second in a series of information meetings relative to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with stakeholders in the private sector, on Friday last at its secretariat in Georgetown. That meeting focused on the core values of the EPA, the numerous possibilities that are available to Guyanese businesses to boost trade relations with the European Union, ensuring that Guyanese businesses boost trade relations with the European Union, and on ensuring that Guyana’s business sector maximizes the benefits of the EPA.
The meeting also helped in sensitizing the private sector to the large range of measures and programmes financed by the EU, to support implementation of the EPA and improve possibilities for trade and investment between the Caribbean and the EU.
Nearly two-thirds of the current 165 million-euro Regional Programme between the EU and CARIFORUM is targeted either directly or indirectly at such support, and this is accompanied by a series of additional thematic or ACP-wide programmes.
The meeting was chaired by Head of Delegation of the European Union, Ambassador Robert Kopecký, and was attended by Allison Francis, an official from the CARIFORUM EPA Implementation Unit.
Ambassador Kopecky, in his remarks, encouraged the Guyanese business community to be proactive, and to make maximum use of the trade opportunities under the EPA and the various EU trade-related support programmes.
The Private Sector Commission (PSC) in Guyana has some 21 business associations that fall under its ambit. Some fifteen members from the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Guyana Office for Investment, Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana, Small Business Association and the Forest Producers Association of Guyana were part of the information session.
According to the EU, those efforts have been undertaken with the common objective to boost Guyanese-European trade relations in the current difficult context of the world financial crisis.
The last available statistics indicate that, in 2010, Guyana exported to the EU goods worth 170 million euros, whilst importing from the EU goods worth 89 million euros, thus creating a positive trade balance in Guyana’s favour of 81 million euros.
Those activities make the EU Guyana’s third most important trade partner, after Canada and the USA.
Main items of Guyanese exports to the EU are sugar and its derivatives; rice, bauxite, rum, processed timber, diamonds, and sea food; whilst Guyana’s foremost import from the EU is machinery and mechanical appliances, followed by dairy and some other agricultural products, and medicines.