GUYANA buys five times the value of Trinidad products as Trinidad buys from Guyana, and part of the reason for this lopsided trade balance in favour of Trinidad is because Trinidad uses non-tariff trade barriers to reject Guyanese products.
Examples of this unfair treatment of Guyanese exports are the rejection of pineapple shipments because the crowns were not removed, the rejection of pepper exports because they had their stems, the requirement of fumigation of agricultural products with methyl bromide in contravention of the Montreal Protocol, application of hypochlorous acid on eddoes; and even the banning of poultry meat though no trade in this product had taken place and Trinidad has so far been allowed to escape these and similar infringements without any correction or penalty.

Trinidad’s most recent rejection of Guyanese products was in March/April last when four 20-foot shipping containers containing a quantity of Demerara Distillers (DDL) packaged milk and bottled flavoured water were rejected. Two containers containing the packaged milk were denied entry and returned to Guyana, while the water was restricted from sale pending “an unconventionally exhaustive examination”. Mr Komal Samaroo, Chairman of DDL pointed out that all requirements were satisfied by his Company and that the products were even approved by the US Food and Drugs Administration and had been exported to other CARICOM states without encountering any problem as the one presented by Trinidad.

Unlike in the past, this recent rejection of the DDL products has resulted in widespread national outrage, and one of the reasons for this is that DDL is one of Guyana’s flagship companies. Its products are known to be of uniformly high quality as, for instance, it is universally accepted that its rums are the best in the world; consumers regard its boxed milk as being of the highest quality and that the Trinidadian rejection of it is, accordingly, unfair and dishonest; every would-be Guyanese exporter to Trinidad now realises that he/she will eventually encounter the same discrimination; and Chairman Samaroo’s integrity, honesty of purpose and commitment to the wellbeing of Guyanese and Caribbean people are known and trusted in the business community and by the public and all these facts are attested by the support DDL’s case has received nationally across the board:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in its release said, “The refusal of entry to the dairy products wholly produced in Guyana by CARICOM member state is an affront to the spirit of a Caribbean integration agenda and must not be accepted. It is appreciated that regional products must satisfy the necessary sanitary and phytosanitary rules, and technical regulations as well as any product-specific rules of origin required to qualify the products for regional preferential treatment. Available information, however, indicates that the dairy products from Guyana destined into Trinidad and Tobago were in full compliance with these requirements.”

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), one of the Caribbean’s oldest trade organisations, in its release, said, “These non-tariff barriers (NBTs), particularly targeting the Agricultural Sector, undermine CARICOM ‘s goal of reducing the regional food import bill by 25% by 2025. The GCCI views these barriers as attempts to thwart the efforts of HE Dr Irfaan Ali, who has been leading CARICOM’s initiative to remove such obstacles. Despite repeated instructions from the Council of Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to eliminate these NTBs, Trinidad and Tobago continue to flout the principles and directives of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Many goods rejected by T&T have been accepted by other CARICOM nations, which adhere more closely to the spirit of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). In the light of these ongoing issues, the GCCI urges the Government of Guyana to consider strictly applying the Principle of Reciprocity in trade with T&T until these NBTs are removed and T&T demonstrates good faith in its trade practices”.

The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) called for the immediate intervention of the Government of Guyana and the CARICOM leadership to address the DDL issue with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. It emphasised that such trade barriers which Trinidad has erected undermine the collective efforts of CARICOM Heads of Government to achieve regional food security and reduce the regional food import bill.

The Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC) expressed its support for DDL and denounced the situation as a clear violation of the spirit of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas , of which both Trinidad and Guyana are signatories.

At the Private Sector Commission (PSC)’s Annual General Meeting held at the Marriott Hotel, Chairman Komal Singh pledged his Commission’s support to Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL) in their impasse with the Trinidad authorities. Chairman Singh remarked that, for years, Guyanese companies have been bitterly complaining about the trade restrictions encountered with the Twin-island Republic, which, at the same time, allows them to freely and easily export their products to Guyana. “Our Commission will continue to review and work with other countries to have these non-tariff barriers removed as quickly as possible.”

Finally, we report on the position of the governing People’s Progressive Party as adumbrated by its General Secretary, Vice President, Dr Bharat Jagdeo: “We will insist upon full reciprocity in matters of trade . . . the way our goods and exports are treated across the Region – but in this particular case in Trinidad and Tobago – the same way their goods entering the Guyanese market will be treated. There will be full reciprocity on all the issues because if they can insist upon a phytosanitary test that we don’t implement on their goods but that they want to conduct on our goods before they enter their market, then we will have to deal in the same manner as they are doing”.

In the discussions DDL had with the Trinidadian authorities on April 19, DDL was advised that their milk was not approved for entry into Trinidad by its Ministry of Agriculture as Guyana is not an approved country for the importation of animal and animal products. Likewise, Trinidad and Tobago is not an approved country for importation into Guyana of animal and animal products, and the Government of Guyana must take immediate reciprocal action by rejecting entry of all animal and animal products from Trinidad and Tobago. Unless this is done, there will be no movement on the part of Trinidad regarding this matter. Two months have already passed since the matter came to the table, and Trinidad’s approach is to delay it. Guyana would have to force the pace for a resolution and be prepared to refer to the CCJ if there is no positive solution.