… sees export growth in lumber, other commodities

AS part of the execution of the economic diplomacy thrust presently engaging the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guyana is seeking to expand trade relations with Cuba in a move that has resulted in millions of dollars in exports to the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island.
Guyana’s Ambassador to Cuba, Halim Majeed, disclosed that the amount of rice exported in 2018, for instance, has more than quadrupled when compared to last year. “In 2017, we sold 15,500 tonnes of rice to Cuba; this year, so far, we sold more than 70, 000 tonnes.

Our target is to see whether we can export up to 125, 000 tonnes by the end of this year,” Majeed was quoted in a release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying.

He labelled the growth in exports a “significant breakthrough” for Guyana’s rice.
Meanwhile, exports in lumber and other products to Cuba amounted to some US $1.2M or an equivalent of GY $240M last year. As of June this year, that figure expanded to US $1.9M. “We are now trying to see how we can export other products to Cuba such as fruits and vegetables, meat, and paints,” the Guyanese diplomat revealed. He further stated that in a recent meeting, representatives of the Guyana Forest Products Association recorded an interest in having a more organised mechanism of trade in lumber and shingles with Cuba.

According to the ministry, economic diplomacy has been cited as critical to Guyana’s progress and has taken centre stage in the state’s relationship with many countries, since the 2016 appointment of new heads of overseas missions. Guyana and Cuba established diplomatic relations on December 8, 1972. The two countries share a strong bilateral relationship, which has been characterised by many exchanges at the government level and cooperation under the Guyana/Cuba Joint Commission. Trade is a renewed dimension of the decades-old friendship.