THE Guyana Government and the Private Sector are currently leading the way in negations to resolve the issue regarding minibus operations between Guyana and Suriname, against the backdrop of a number of impositions by Surinamese authorities.

According to a release issued by the Guyana Foreign Affairs Ministry last Thursday, the Embassy of Guyana in Paramaribo was informed by four minibus operators that the Surinamese authorities had instituted new requirements for buses plying the route from Guyana to Paramaribo.
These new requirements imposed on the minibus operators a duty to transport the identical passengers they would have brought from Guyana on their return from Suriname.
However, the Foreign Affairs Ministry immediately rejected this, and deemed the requirement as being “impractical”, given that persons have varying lengths of stay and passengers might also be travelling one way only.
As a result, the Guyanese Embassy immediately contacted the Surinamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs who had promised to speak with their Customs authorities pertaining to the issue. The issue was, however, not resolved.

CROSS BORDER PROTOCOL
Following this, the Ministry was then made aware that another imposition had been instituted. This time, the Surinamese authorities were requiring that Guyanese operators needed to apply for a licence to operate from Guyana to Paramaribo.
Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Ministry quickly rebutted this, stressing that these requirements were inconsistent with the Cross Border Protocol of October 22, 1998.

DIALOGUE
Commitment was made by Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett who vowed to press her Surinamese counterpart through dialogue to recognise the good neighbourly relations that exist between Guyana and Suriname and adopt a swift resolution to the issue.
This commitment was then echoed by President of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC), Ramesh Dookhoo, last Friday evening, when he pledged the Private Sector’s support in continuing to pursue the issue with the aim of bringing about a quick resolution.

ROAD TRANSPORT AGREEMENT
Dookhoo was quick to highlight the violation of the road transport agreement between Guyana and Suriname which the Surinamese authorities have chosen to ignore. “It is a breach of that agreement,” he stressed.
What this kind of action demonstrates, Dookhoo said, is the kind of mentality that needs to be eliminated as the two neighbouring countries head into a new dimension of trading within the Region.
“It demonstrates the thinking we have as small nations in the CARICOM. We are afraid of someone else entering our country. I do not blame our friends in Suriname. Every single island jurisdiction in the Caribbean has the same approach that these same gentlemen in Suriname who objected to our buses have,” Dookhoo said.
To this extent, he commended the efforts of Suriname which he described as a country which has always demonstrated an open-door policy in relation to trading with Guyana. “They have never blocked any Guyanese going into their country to trade,” he noted, adding that Guyana too has never blocked any Surinamese company wishing to operate here.
Also having an input on the issue was President of the Private Sector Commission Ramesh Persaud, who noted that if the impositions continue it is definitely going to impact the movement of people, in particular tourists and the movement of goods and services between the two countries.
Additionally, the cost of handling goods will also be increased. He assured the media, however, that currently efforts are being made to resolve this issue, with the Government and the Private Sector leading the way in negations.