Foreign Secretary, Canadian High Commission discuss trade, investment

– Guyanese products to re-enter Canadian markets 

Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. Robert Persaud on Thursday led discussions with Canada’s High Commissioner to Guyana, H.E Mark Berman on trade and investment between the two countries.

The discussion was held at the Foreign Secretary’s office during a courtesy call by the High Commissioner.   

Mr. Persaud said discussions included the return of Guyanese products to the Canadian market.

“We spoke about how more products from Guyana, especially cultural related products can have access to the Canadian market.

Since 2016, we have not been able to export rice to Canada, so we discussed that and looked at how we could expand trade between us,” Mr. Persaud said.

The Foreign Secretary said in expanding trade relations with Canada, there will be more investment opportunities with Canadian businesses and companies in Guyana.

“In areas of Agriculture and different areas of the economy, especially in terms of oil and gas, we discussed that broadly,” Mr. Persaud noted.

Another area of discussion was diaspora engagement and ways through which Canadian-based Guyanese could be engaged to lend support here.

“The cost of air travel and availability of air travel between Guyana and Canada, it’s a lot of measures that the diaspora has been complaining and we updated that today here.

The Air Transport Agreement between Guyana and Canada is about to be finalised, this will allow for more carriers between the two.”

The Air Transport Agreement between Guyana and Canada has been ongoing for several years. The Ministry of Public Works is the lead agency on those discussions.

In 2014, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority signed an Open Skies Agreement with Canada for flights from this country to fly to any location in Canada. Prior to November 2014, operators out of Guyana were only permitted to fly to certain locations in Canada, in keeping with another Air Services Agreement signed in May 2005.

Canada remains one of Guyana’s largest air traffic destinations.