–through potential expansion of Partial Scope Agreement

LEVERAGING the strength of their individual agricultural sectors, Guyana and Brazil will be looking to enhance and diversify trade in this area.
The possibilities for expansion in the area of agricultural trade were explored on Friday when President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro visited Guyana at the invitation of President Dr Irfaan Ali.

According to a joint statement following engagements between the two Presidents, the Heads of State agreed on the importance of expanding and diversifying agricultural trade between the two countries.
Agriculture has been a critical area of cooperation between the two South American nations since they established diplomatic relations on August 26, 1968.

This relationship was enhanced on June 27, 2001, when an Economic Complementation Agreement (Partial Scope Agreement) was signed between Brazil and Guyana. The agreement, which was since amended, aims to foster bilateral trade flows by the exchange of tariff preferences between the parties, cooperation on trade matters and increased participation of the private sector.

Presidents Ali and Bolsonaro have since committed to broadening the scope and expanding the provisions of the Partial Scope Agreement.
The Sunday Chronicle understands that Guyana, on a broader level, earned over US$20.4 million from exports to Brazil in 2020.

According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) – an online data visualisation and distribution platform – the main products exported from Guyana to Brazil in 2020 were rice, aluminum ore and surveying equipment, among other things.

On the other hand, Brazil, a known manufacturing and commercial hub in South America, exported soya bean, unglazed ceramics and tractors to Guyana in 2020.

In moving ahead, specifically in the area of agriculture and food security, Presidents Ali and Bolsonaro agreed to pursue greater collaboration through the sharing of information and best practices, enhanced collaboration between their respective research institutions and the promotion of investment.

“Over the years, Guyana and Brazil have enjoyed an excellent relationship in trade and agriculture development,” Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha had said.

A report from the Department of Public Information in 2021 quoted the minister as saying: “We are looking to expand these ties, while also looking to develop new areas of technical cooperation. Guyana is pleased with the recent advances made in the Partial Scope Agreement that has increased our supply quota from 10,000 tonnes to 34,000 tonnes of rice to Brazil.

“This augurs well for us in terms of increasing our production and tapping into new markets for our produce.”
Additionally, greater opportunities are in the pipeline for Guyanese and Brazilians, as authorities move closer to finalising further arrangements for the paving of the road from Linden to Lethem, which serves as a conduit for travel between the two South American nations.

“Linden-Lethem corridor will be a game-changer for Guyana and Brazil,” Director of the Department of International Cooperation at Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Ambassador Forbes July, said during his address at the recent joint launch of World Vaccination Week in Bonfim.

Guyana is linked directly to Brazil through Lethem, which lies just on the edge of the border between the two countries. And, as it is now, the journey from Lethem to Georgetown takes as many as 13 hours, depending on the state of the road.

The unpaved 450-kilometre road from Linden to Lethem is often impassable in the rainy season, due to flooding along low-lying sections of the trail.
Although air travel to Lethem is also possible, anecdotal information shows that the cost factor often discourages the average Guyanese from choosing this mode of transportation.

Once paved, the road which was referred to as a game-changer by Ambassador July, will eradicate many bottlenecks to travel by reducing ground transportation time to approximately five hours.
This piece of infrastructure will not just improve transportation, but it will also augment trade and tourism and increase land value, among other things.

President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon, in describing the massive project which will be done in phases, said: “Almost one half of Guyana’s potential will be linked one way or the other to just opening that corridor… we are using Linden to Lethem, but I am referring here from the deep-sea port in Georgetown all the way to connectivity to Brazil.”

The CDB is no stranger to this initiative, since it has provided direct funding of US$112 million for the upgrading of 121 kilometres of road from Linden to Mabura Hill. The project is a joint undertaking of Guyana, the United Kingdom and the CDB.

It was reported by the Stabroek News in February that negotiations were expected to commence between authorities and the most responsive bidder for the US$190 million Linden to Mabura Hill upgrade project, Construtora Queiroz Galvao S.A. from Brazil.

The upgrading of this corridor will provide year-round connectivity between Linden and Mabura Hill, improving conditions for local and long-haul transport.

And although the intended aim of this specific project is to improve connectivity between Guyana’s hinterland and the coastal areas, it is just the first phase of the wider plan to develop the transportation corridor from Georgetown to Lethem on the south-west border, thereby connecting the port in Georgetown with northern Brazil.

Dr Leon believes that while this augurs well for Guyana’s internal advancement, the project will essentially create a hemispheric corridor, linking South America to the Atlantic and, similarly, granting the Caribbean access to South America