AT the request of the President of Guyana, Dr. Irfaan Ali for the establishment of a common Ferry Service within CARICOM, a high-level officials meeting was convened last Thursday at the Ministry of Works and Transport, Trinidad, and Tobago.

A delegation from Guyana was led by Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, and included Brian Sears, Chief Plant Protection Officer, Ministry of Agriculture; Stephen Telford, Head of Immigration, and Rohan Beekhoo, Comptroller Customs Excise and Trade, Guyana Revenue Authority.

The meeting which was chaired by Minister Indar included Senator Rohan Sinanan, Minister of Works and Transport (Trinidad and Tobago); G.P Ian Gooding-Edghill, Minister of Tourism and International Transport (Barbados); Dr. Pauline Yearwood, Deputy Programme Manager Directorate of Trade and Economic Integration (CARICOM Secretariat), and other senior regional officials in the areas of immigration, customs, plant quarantine, port health, and agriculture.

One of the many challenges identified by Heads of Government within CARICOM in actualising the regional objective stated in the Twenty-Five by 2025 Initiative, which is to reduce the regional food-import bill by 25 per cent by the year 2025, is the difficulty faced in transporting agricultural goods and people intra-regionally. It is with this in mind that the meeting was organised.

The meeting highlighted each country’s position and perspective in relation to this issue and each minister took the opportunity to emphasise their commitment to the process of implementing the transportation system, and to resolutely promote regional food security without compromising public health, security, and safety.

It was identified that the three countries were on the cusp of forming a company to drive the process for the introduction of a regional ferry service. This company would comprise directors from each country to facilitate operations.

An inspection of the Galleon Passage in Port of Spain was conducted by ministers and technical officials followed by discussions also centred on the other areas of importance to the proposal for the common transportation system such as plant quarantine, including sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) matters and immigration, and custom for the movement of people and goods for trade.

A system for pre-clearance was also proposed for implementation.
The Heads of Customs, Immigration, and Plant Quarantine from Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad & Tobago agreed that most systems were already in place, and could be adjusted to accommodate this, especially considering the existing Guyana and Suriname Ferry Service arrangement to facilitate this commitment by the President of Guyana and the Prime Ministers of Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago.

It was agreed that a team of technical officials from Trinidad & Tobago will visit Guyana and Barbados to inspect port infrastructure to accommodate the proposed ferry service within the next two weeks.

Respective delegates voiced their opinions on three main areas of immigration, customs, and plant quarantine, and at the end of the meeting decided that representatives from the three countries would meet to identify and resolve issues and prepare an interim report on harmonising in one months’ time.

A target date not exceeding two months was agreed to by all participants to complete the work of pre-clearance procedures for immigration, customs, and plant quarantine. The team agreed to work consistently to make the ferry service a reality as soon as possible.